24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
The road home is suddenly unfamiliar. Turning again, a fleeting moment of deja vu
feels almost like hope.
The mirror becomes opaque with time. Looking again, a fragment of translucent glass
pierces the heart.
The people we love grow distant. Trying again is like looking at a spot on the horizon
with one eye closed.
The displaced object only appears so because of the change in the position
of the observer.
in the dream antigone hungers for justice like a child
needs breakfast after the fever has broken fever so high
like a fever has stepped on a crack and snapped its own back
antigone all white robes as they wore back then a rope round
her waist though she is daughter of a king always daughter
of the dead king a life defined by ghosts another life defined
the hunger a wolf clicking its wolf-teeth the father dead
it is the only taste at the tip of the very very edge
if you won’t serve it to her serve it here fill her with it
fill her hungry me poor antigone axed for lack of it
for saying there is none
so a man would make a play about there is none
so you will know there is none
so the hero of the play can learn something new, true
and you learn maybe but not antigone (who was right) is
only need is never satisfied we are never
i drag bodies around this earth i haul buckets of sand
toss sand on them, on him, on my true brother
where tossing sand is best next option but i starve.
Mediocrity in life
Make a choice
Take a chance
Somehow rising
It is happening
Where did it go
It has disappeared
Finally released.
Untitled
Begging doesn’t work with me
so tell your eyes to shut up
and your feet!
singing their frustration
stomp
stomp
stomp
Stop!
Listening to tears screaming
down your cheeks
is exhausting
How am I to know
how your feel
if you won’t tell me?
I am my mom’s possession,
the very dear valuable asset
as she proclaims.
She’s such a darling and
loves me to the moon and back.
She wishes to eulogise the world,
but keeps her pack of aspiration to herself,
thinking her dearie bundle of joy, her only child,
her apple of eye, her right direction,
will fall prey in the eyes of the materialistic world.
Yes! It’s me, who’s my mama’s proud possession.
With her optimistic approach, she always inspires
me to stay upright.
Every day with her positive vibes,
though from a distant town,
she nurtures in me the value of self- help and maturity.
Her straight forward tutelage,
allows me the spirit to do what I feel the most;
as I am my mama’s proud possession.
The unsaid
The unresolved
The unhappening
It rankles
Like a pebble caught in the bloodstream.
Screaming yelling
Why don’t you get it
It’s so simple.
Weaving webs
To the stars
Back & forth
From the pebble to the dotted sky
Hanging forever on this web.
Looking out
Holding breaths
Sending out silent vibes
Prayers of the soul.
Some desires
Stay with us
Like pebbles rankling in the bloodstream.
_narinder.
How to say how I long for you
Like an obsession, black, oozing,
Gripping my mind with inky talons
I’ll handle it. With my hands I’ll handle it.
Grappling. My fingers lock around its neck and I squeeze.
I’ll squeeze until it bursts in colors of crimson and ultramarine
Black and white and emerald green. Yellow oxide.
Colors of flames and explosions. Colors of forests
and dark haunted lakes. Sunsets, fogged banks, and cityscapes
I’ll squeeze these tubes of color onto a palette and scoop them up
With bristles, real and synthetic.
The only way to tell you what you do to me
Is through acrylics.
On stretched canvas.
Yesterday I liked my high school love
Today I loved my husband that was sent from up above
Yesterday I thought our love had fallen apart
Today I knew that together we would make it through
Yesterday I frowned at the thought of having too many kids
Today I smiled filled with joy learning I could have even more
Yesterday I doubted I would ever be free to write just one poem
Today I believed I could write as many that would come
Yesterday I wished my life would be easier but
Today I prayed and many doors came open
A world of beauty and harmony
no borders, no visa and you can enter anywhere in the world where there will be,
no racist
no skin color
and no language barrier.
A healthy planet earth and environmentally friendly, where humans are responsible enough to face challenges of climate change. And there will be,
No sickness
No bacteria that thrives
No communicable disease and
No viruses to kill our human race.
There will be no floods, storms, hurricane, twister, earthquake and tsunamis.
And no more natural and manmade calamities.
There will be a negotiator of peace,
No barracks or great wall and no misunderstanding of rules
where brothers unified with common goal.
Living with one faith and belief.
Human dignity reign and
Emphatically define clearly, a solid common ground of one strong and united nation.
Where there will be,
No uprising
No civil unrest
And no more missile to launch to create world war.
A country of mutual understanding, patriotism, very civilized, honest and loyal.
And a true leader with
No hidden agenda
No hidden riches
whwre everyone enjoy equal distribution of wealth.
A country with no debts, no bankruptcy, no unemployment
And no political dynasty and pork barrel from the government funding to go to waste.
Our one and only planet earth will have a long life expectancy by living a stress free life to the rest of the human race.
In my wallet I still keep
the travel card you gave me in 1973
which grants the bearer, me,
immediate and instant passage to somewhere else
This 2 by 3 inch rounded edge card stock,
illuminated in black ink
from a 00 rapidograph pen,
I hold for an emergency
The front side shows your
drawings of our first months together,
while the back lists
the privileged destinations I can go to.
Over the years, the edges have
curled and frayed leaving
some of the destinations
and memories in doubt
It was from a time
when it was just the three of us,
you, me, and Peter the cat
with your dragon blowing hot air onto our bed
My card numbered 0000001 does not give
instructions in how I can use it
or warn me about the consequences of
such transit.
I have never asked you
if you have card number 0000002,
if the same destinations are on it,
and if you have used it.