Cliches

Why is it hard to believe
That child is the father of man?
Why is it so hard to see
What chips off the block might be?

A chip off the ol' block
Just as smooth, just as rough,
As soft, as hard, as strong
Smaller? May be, but rarely weaker.

The little things make the big.
The big beget the small.
The world runs on circles.
and circles go on forever.

Memories and a Laugh

"Baroda's hot,"
Ahmedabad's not?
Can't help it man,
That's all we got

No cash, no stash
no watermelon patch
The mango's alright
but it's just no match

To parties at Jain's
and Vodka'd brains,
talking crap all night,
calling people names

Cheese and bread
My fridge is dead
from midnight snacks
2A so often fed

But that's in the past
It went too fast
just wanted to say
I'm glad we had a blast

Now I'm stuck
I need some luck
I'm going under
Modi's truck

Send help my way
lemme have my say
I wonder what they'd pay
a poet for a day?

Faery Dance

Dark faeries dance in the pale moonlight
Bewitchin eyes a-glistenin in the distance
Wide open spaces, a starless nite
Silhouettes the dark faery's dance
The smoky clouds - a low umbrella
Fireflies flickering in the green green grass
A tinkling stream that cries Aloha
The perfect setting for the faery's dance
John's Wort and Thyme that grow on a hill
The unicorn that looks on in askance
These are some things that hold their will
And cause the dark faeries to prance
When night falls, the birds cease flight
An' the sun's gone back to his Heaven,
The dark faeries dance in the pale moonlight
They dance till dawn at seven.

The Embrace

The windswept hill beckoned.
The waves rushed in,
touching but the fringes of land.
Earth remained earth –
Arms outstretched, but standing still.
Water remained water –
Fluid, yet bound.
Together, yet apart, in spite of themselves
each, in their own place…
The breeze came through –
light yet intense,
touching, soothing, gently caressing –
And the hill failed to remember
the passionate sea crashing below.

Shadows

A shadow of love comes through
Not returned - the shadow is passing
You know how I feel, but
There's nothing you can do

The love you share, is beyond compare
I'm just a shadow in the wings
That's what you think... you know.
But remember, shadows don't disappear

They may, for a while, hide away
They grow long or shrink to naught
But shadows go wherever you go
Staying longer than you want them to

They don't dissipate or learn to hate
They're remnants. That's what they are -
Leftovers from a time that's past.
Yet, not in the present or the past.

So, love just is,
A shadow in the dark.

Things that flow, or don't

Words tumble, the season's first rains
Into a well - dry and waiting
Blank pages fill up. Lines appear
Pages become books.
SOunds-Words-Meanings.
One leads to the other.

The well fills up.
Like a heart thats' been waiting
for someone to love
Feelings, like water flow
One to another, they say
One to another and back again.

But what do you do,
When you've built a dam
around your heart, your page, your well?
Nothing flows, but in fits and starts
Both, words and feelings -
They tumble out. Surprise you.

All it takes is just one crack
Thoughts. words. Feelings. Water.
Trickles become deluges
The wall crumbles
Leaving you an open path
To a place you deny existence.

Voodoo Child

The voodoo child hangs by a thread
from an old oak tree
all sticks of wood and string is she
Listlessly gazing upon the dead...

Life's past her by,
the little lonely voodoo child
no one knows, no one cares
to approach her, no one dares.

A wooden face, a triangular head
hangs low for the world to see
just a little bit like you and me
curled softly sobbing upon the bed...

Life's past us by,
like the little lonely voodoo child
no one knows, no one cares
to approach us, no one really dares

The others see her and shake their head
As far away as Tuscany
to understand them, this is the key:
What they don't know is what they dread

Life passes her by
the lonely little voodoo child
no one knows, no one cares
they don't approach her, it’s just not fair.

Name poems

Zigzagging through ziggurats,
Enjoying the feeling of smooth
Pebbles beneath my toes -
Hues of blue and red
Run into one another,
As I smile and turn the page
----------------------------------
My life confuses me-
A lot of a little, and a little of a lot
Remains fragmented in a spiral brain
Illuminated by a candle -
Lit to find what was lost
Yet burning long after
Night has given way to day
------------------------------------

The Muse is Out

A blank page stares up at me
As I attempt to sift through volleys of words,
Shot at me from my subconscious
The search for meaning is soon aborted.

Words swirl around my head
The vortex is a migrane
Thoughts remain half-formed.
The consistance of a bad souffle.

I make a desperate call
The phone rings, is answered.
"I'm sorry to have missed your call..."
The muse is out.

WHITE NOISE

I sit, staring into nothingness
Drowning in a sea of diluted thoughts.

Dreams, once technicolored, fade to black
Fanstasies, mere sailboats in a tumultous sea

My brain reflects others thoughts,
Shimmering wisps glinting off mirrors well-bronzed

People around me, beg to be watched.
Nameless faces, faceless names, merge one into another

I see, but am I looking?
I hear, but do I listen?
I exist. But do I live?

Narcissistic or wat???

It's strange how beautiful muddy river water can be, as it twirls beneath the bridge you're standing on
It's strange how u can live most of ur life in a city, and yet be a stranger to its secrets...
It's strange how bits of a song can stick in your head and pop out at the appropriate moment
It's strange how much of an impact people leave on one anothe, without meaning to...
It's strange how one true cliches are...
It's strange how much one person's life can change in a day... a moment....
It's strange how strange one just can be
It's strange how much i love me.
I wonder if i'd marry me...

Prometheus returns

Fair friend of man,
Prometheus was,
Who brought them fire
An inspired the great holy wars

Fire came to earth,
With the Gods' own ire:
He was bound night and day,
for stealing the fire.

Prometheus lay shattered
As the gods watch in mirth
At a hungry bird
Checking his liver's daily growth.

Then the Son of Zeus
Hercules was his name,
Slaying the bird, he won
a round in that celestial game
-------
Promethus lies unbound
Free, yet still in pain...
The shackles are gone,
but the memories remain.

Nights are disturbed
by slivers of shadows
As niggling doubts
into nightmares flow
------
Can time really heal
An unbroken heart
That was sliced into two,
Right at the start?

Part II

II

The curtains are drawn across the stage
Lights fade out slowly
Till total darkness prevails

Suddenly, a flash of phosphorence
The stage lights up. The spotlight is on,
Radiant- even through the darkened screen

Drama unfolds before unblinking eyes
Shielded by the pouring rain

The sky - a chameleon:
Red, Orange, Black,
Interspersed by violent white.

The darkness looms, occasionally,
Lights soon return, and zigzagging paths
Mark the stairway to heaven.

Lights go off, come on again...
The darkness has not a chance.

I turn off my night light
Staring through a shut window
At Ma Nature's spectacular display

Act one is over, the curtain reopens
The stars come out, their time for hiding has past.
It's the clouds, this time-

The wind appears - a major player,
The earth heaves a sigh of dry relief

Black turns to grey, and grey to white
But not for long, the show must go on
So the curtains will be drawn,

The spotlight will come on,
Act Two will follow, And three...
And four... And five...

PART I

Dark clouds part a mezzotinted sky
While the petrichord rises from the earth
Wave after wave, almost an assault
As senses awaken. One at a time
Heavenly Tears, they've oft been called
That flow when Gaea takes the fall
For ornery children's hearts impure
Then tears turn torrential, even thunderous
As Thor and Ty ally
To capture images of a luminous night
While gushing gauntlets gather force
Unshielded souls shatter to smithereens
Yet, diaphanous blooms in glorious disarray
Soak up the shadows of the rainbow
And hormones surge as Jupiter awakens,
Emotions direct, not rhyme nor reason.

Midnight Musings I

I sit to write, and stars appear
Before my eyes
White contrasts with white
Music fades -in and out-
surreptiously in the background
Creating, or destroying,
(I know not which)
the moment words begin to flow.

The stars begin to fade...
but not from my eyes
as I sit, starry-eyed
In awe of the world...
in puzzlement -
of superconductors,
LPG engines,
Modifed salt crystals,
Reattached fingers
that once were dead.

Images cloud my mind
White on white no longer
The stars disappear...
Only to be replaced
by spots of varying greys
I know not which to gaze upon
To form a pixelated Image
Of life, as it passes me by.

Thy names are many...

Embers glow.
Red heat turns white
ever hungry,
all consuming
Many names, one face.
Vulcan, Agni, Bel...
Feared and revered,
Since time began.
Now, a power embraced,
A religion unto itself.

My wave

My element. this is me.
A crashing wave.
I go up. I come down.
Static is what i am not.
As lazy, as unpredictable,
as everything a wave can be..
this is me.

Glass Cage

I sit, enclosed in glass

Observing; Voices

a distant murmur

Yet loud enough

to drown any thoughts

That may stray

Into my mind uninvited