The Poetry Marathon

Like a giraffe in a sideways world
I take up too much space
the others say I don’t belong
I’m an absolute disgrace!

Like a giraffe in a sideways world
My feet never land on the ground
I feel I float with my head in the clouds
my multihued dreams, they abound

Like a giraffe in a sideways world
I have a different view
No one can really understand
No one gives me my due!

Like a giraffe in a sideways world
when everyone’s world is straight
I’m forced to live by boring rules
That boring old duffers dictate!

Like a giraffe in a sideways world
I know of pleasures none do!
The others then are bugged no end
That fact they cannot chew!

Alone?
No! I feel a presence
just as I feel with my eyes closed
Water!
All around me
Am I drowning?
Slowly…
bound, tied
yet safe
and floating free…
Dead?
How did I get here?
I forget…
Was I always here?
In parts maybe…
striving hard to be whole
as I float to find my bearing
and my body
and life itself
I hear the song of the universe
or is that now a lullaby?
so far, yet so near
Or is it the other way around?
There is darkness!
There is light!
And there is water!
For now, this is what I call Mother!

Once in a blue moon,
I take out an old picture of myself
just to check how many wrinkles I’ve added
since I crossed happy days

Once in a blue moon,
I try to recollect just what you whispered
into my ears as we made love
but all that echos is the crack of a sharp slap across my face

Once in a blue moon,
I drink wine from the flute
just to remind myself that its cracked, sharp edge
can no longer press against my throat as I’m backed far up against the wall

Once in a blue moon,
I use my silver brush to smoothen my silver strands
They lost their dark colour too soon, but my dark secret…
that will last my lifetime and a little more

Once in a blue moon,
I walk downstairs into the cellar
to check for the stench of yesterday
but the rats seem to have wiped away every inch of you!

Living in pigeon holes

boxed in with closed doors

Restricted, obstructed, constricted views

Brightly painted doors for happy beginnings

Cities that lure with their fake promises

playing with real lives

Too hungry to refuse, they play along with a hope

Someday, that door will open

like a dream come true

but to where, no one really knows

Why do they fall prey anyway?

What difference does it make to pigeons

what colour the door of their prison is!

I’m at that age
Where my bones hurt more than my heart
Or is it vice-versa?
Why dwell on that, I’m living life playing my part

I’m at that age
Where my clock runs… slower than theirs
Them I see whizzing by
With furrowed brows, entwined in worldly affairs

I’m at that age
Where sleeplessness doesn’t correspond to burning ambitions
I don’t count stars no more, nor try to reach them
The math I do… is more subtractions, less additions

But, I’m still not the age
Where the rising sun does not bring wonder
Where a tender touch fails to calm my soul
I’m human still, no I’m still not going under!

PATRIARCHY

Can you smell the stench… of festering beliefs
in the murky cesspool of your mind?
As daughter after daughter after daughter
falls. Ah! But you can’t hear, you’re deaf and blind!

There’s acid on her soul with a flick of your wrist
The wretch, your advances did try to resist
Your dagger, it glitters as your sister’s blood spills
exactly as patriarchy demanded and wills
It’s your honour you defend cause obviously, she has none
You’ll find her and hunt her, she has nowhere to run!
Don’t leave her alone even in the womb
The moment you smell her, send her to her tomb
She likes to dress nice, she’s sugar and spice
She must be ravaged, your lust she’s enticed!

Scoff now and tell me, I speak of folklore
these are ancient stories, you heard of before
Then why as I walk in the DARKNESS alone
My heart is a pounding, I’m clutching my phone?
My heart is a pounding, I’m clutching my phone!

Hellow Fellow Marathoners! I’m Manoshi from India. This is my first time, and all of this right now seems rather overwhelming. I think I feel a case of acute online stage fright coming up! 😀 I do love playing with words and have been a closet writer from a very young age. It’s only very recently that I’ve come out and shared my poems publically. So, what better than a half marathon to carry me the distance I want to go with my writing. Waiting eagerly to see all of you. I’m going to be cheering hard for everyone, and hoping that a few of you would do the same for me!