Category: Poetry

• September 19, 2015

  I Turn Away

  [Note: This poem is dedicated to the women who have been subjected to sexual violence, rape, subjugation, and discrimination in the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere. The poem should be read in the context of certain cultural practices and historical events. I wrote this poem after the Delhi gang-rape in December 2012]. My heart, it breaks…
• July 23, 2015

  Timetables

  Every morning we wake up With a feeling of disgust — Just another day Of routines and rituals Your diligence is awe-inspiring I keep rolling — restless in bed As you calmly get ready To set out for the usual business Every day And as you step out of that doorway I turn my eyes…
• December 18, 2014

  This, That and Nothing

  I stand by the roadside Waiting for something Or perhaps nothing? A man walks past, Limping towards me With a burning cigarette In his left hand I move aside in a jiffy And notice a little boy Pretending to be a puppy dog “Wow wow”, he frolics On the concrete pavement As his mother turns…
• January 19, 2014

  This Is No Dream

  Ah, the poverty of the written word! It does not carry the punctuations Nor gestures or embellishments Of a spoken utterance Listen to the silence! I went sleepless and troubled Hiding under my pallid skin As a thick blanket of darkness Enveloped the starless night This is no dream, my love For dreams have no…
• October 21, 2011

  A handful of sky

  Memories of a handful of sky A moonlit night A heavenly garden Moments frozen in a macrocosm Mired in haziness A collage of images Of the dead and the doomed. A treasure Of a thousand smiles A ten thousand cries A million hearts Breathing hope And drinking grief. Mothers’ frantic calls Sounds of the marching…