The Poetry Marathon

Hope shines like the sun
In the midst of winter cold
Wow! Hope’s forever!!

Scary is the inferno of Dante so you fear to sin
but the nether worlds of Hinduism denote not hell
Seven are they in number, verily known as
Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala and Patala
The lowest level is Patala the abode of great serpents
Too deep for the Sun to extend his rays down there
Jewels of every kind, known and unknown, abound
Casting lights of various shades.
home for Beautiful groves, lakes and demon maidens
Palaces dot the world designed by Maya the demon architect
Death dares not cast his long shadows therein.
Sweet fragrance hangs in the air and superb music pervades
Soil is white, black, purple, sandy, yellow, stony and also of gold.
Positive energy resonates all around
Why then hanker for heaven?

Surely Money makes the world go around
but the smell of pizza baking in the oven
Makes your brain go around in circles!
The crust can be thin and crispy
Or thick and chewy.
They even stuff the margins nowadays.
To teach children fractions in math
they show pictures of cut-up pizza.
Can you blame kids for failing in math?
Now talk about the sauces.
cheese types may be many
But mozzarella is the King
Toppings are many a kind
All of them are mind-blowing.
Oh pizza, pizza! where forth art thou, pizza!!

Running all over the house as a young child
without any rhyme or reason
Running aftera ball or a doll as an older child.
Running after a lover as young adult
Setting up a house running after money
house,car, education, learning, fame
As the body tatters under its own right
thoughts and worries run riot
Wondrous are these funny little (wo)men
Even in death bed as disease has ravaged
they still keep on running!

Spiritualism and Religion are two sides of same coin
yet neither depends on the other
Know I not if God exists but I do know
Spiritual thoughts have prevailed over millennia.
Simple cow farmers of ancient India held lofty thoughts
And propounded them in words of deep-seated meaning
The wealth of thought grows by distribution
unlike physical riches that diminish on sharing.
So it came that everyday like clockwork
I discourse on one aphorism of ancient thought
And propogate by means electronic
To a tiny faithful lot of fellow travelers
On the less-trodden path of self introspection

Words fail me when I look around me
Am I dead? am I in heaven?
I am on the snowy banks of a lofty mountain range
Clad but in a flimsy robe weaved of dreams
Yer feel I not the biting cold
but a comforting warmth rises from my innards
A shower of joy descends from my head
permeating every pore of my body
filling them with the ambrosia of Hope.
AND THAT IS REAL!

I was hurtling headlong into a bottomless bit
Chased by dark, form-shifting shadows
A rumbling shriek of endless agony emanates
from the deepest craters of my inner being
I come to a bone-rattling stop
My hoodie has snarled on a dying branch
Headless wonders floating on cotton candy limbs
surround me chanting in a cacophony of voices
An icy finger extends its gnarled touch to my heart
which by the way stopped pumping moments ago
A haunting melody soulfully stirs my tortured soul
A waif wrapped in an electric blue lightning
twirls in a slow-paced dance of death
my rational brain struggles in vain to make sense
its enmeshed gears crashing in deafening silence
What is real? what is imagined?
What is true? what is false?

When a thousand hammers beat a devastating rhythm
Shaking your squeamish, screaming innards to the core
When you are feeling lower than the underbelly of a snake
When no one remains whom you can count as your own
When the dice and cards are stacked against you
When the tide has turned entirely against you
When the world lies shattered in front of you
Like the broken pieces of multi-colored bangle pieces
Pick them up and build a kaleidoscope with them
Look through the lens at the shifting shapes of color
Girdle up your loins and march on long strides
Yours to conquer lies the entire rainbow universe!

Youth of the world, lend me your ears
Here is the step-by_step recipe to success
Keep your mind on restricted access
To matters of import as well as cheers.

Chart your own course, no trodden path
No one on earth knows better than you
Of all things that matter and necessary too
Fools suffe not , at them direct your wrath

Never put in an honest day’s work
Eat, drink, rest, relax and be merry
Too many things about for you to worry
Indulge your every whim and the odd quirk

POV of the drunkard

My spirits were high within and without
Walking on stars was I
Minding my business, keeping to the sidewalk
An old wrinkled hand pulled me by my collar
Crashed me to the ground.
I slowly rose up
Studiously ignoring his helping hands.
I snarled at him, ” Ya old geezer!
Whaddaya mean bashin’ me about?”
Smiling at me the old brute said,
” Go home, young man, sleep it off”
Sober was I as judge and slowly sauntered off