blending

by the river i bend down

to note down

in my note-book

for i hear the water flow

but see not the bottom of bed

not even knee deep

i breathe the fresh air

but creeps that ugly doubt

i think i feel the pollutant

inside the hairy cave

as my eyes gaze across

the floating smoke

but breeze brings closer

the tall grass

while the flower on crown kisses

my cheeks

does it also say:

take it easy

now i become truly aware

of my ignorance

of the music of another language

earlier my eardrums

did vibrate

for songs of winged friends

and my eyes

transcending colour

determines my career and size

of my worn out wallet

there, once i saw

the transcendental unity

the perfect blending of north

with south

with a clout of the latter

in the human litter by the river

it read, SUN-RYPE:

apple banana with citrus pectin

and natural flavor

a perfect dried fruit snack

recommended, also for those striving hard

to keep harm count low

henry victor      18.06.2003

gulls and bullies

 

i observed three parasitic jaegers

among seventy ring-billed gulls

and confused the jaegers

to overfed juvenile gulls

ambiguity surfaced from the apparent

hospitality of gulls; learning later

i realized gulls regurgitate their meal

a pattern among bird parenting!

i have now learnt to forgive jaegers

forget bullying of these creatures

and observed, now, my cookies

frequently emptied by my daughter

she is well known for her skin color

and cherishing not my cookies!

i was misled in admiring

hospitality of my girl

i learnt it right, but a lot later

watching closely a guarded secret

my daughter under threat

appeasing the caucasian bullies

henry victor     25.08.2002

   

beyond the psalm twenty-nine

when the ideals of the Nazarene

evaporates in the crucible

of the empty episcopacy

filled to the brim with hypocrisy

then it slips into putting on

a magnificent clothing

enjoying the political influence

it can exert  and the tribal strength

assigning self-glory and power

speaking with arrogance

and thundering over those paid reverence

to the humble man from Nazareth!

there the episcopal voice

breaks the cedars

making Edmonton skip like a calf

and the new immigrant like an ox

young but wild

the brutal feminine voice

flashes forth flames of fire
bringing to knees

the Asian and the African wise men!

this vicious voice causes

also the withering of oaks, stripping

the forest bare and the temple pews empty

henry victor      07.01.2007

racism: a reverse evolution

i put on the skin of a prairie buffalo

to keep my chin up cheerfully

at a time when i am unemployed

in this land of plentitude of prejudice

my wearing of this skin for too long

makes my heart pound like a buffalo’s

even as i now feel like this hardy creature

becoming extinct in its chosen territory

the stink emanating from this skin

permeates into to my blood stream

feeding my brain to think like a buffalo

as i roam in this green land

i have in the past heard of reincarnation

and have explored the natural selection

as i studied in school theories of evolution

but reverse i see: an immigrant to a buffalo

henry victor      25.04.2007

in retreat … i wait

in retreat i wait for a voice

a sense, an assurance
a word of admonition, a declaration
of a direction and i wait

to charge my soul, rundown battery

and i am seated in front
of that window with curtain
rolled, and my coffee cup empty

it is a wintry morning

with a moon waning
yet to set
as leafless boughs sway

and pine branches

have shed the snow
as bunches
of mountain ash berries swing

they add

an extravagant red
to rising reddish rays

but in retreat

i wait
for light
to shine in heart

© henry victor     11.02.2004

Canadian citizen

rootless was my childhood beginning

with no granddad nor grandma to call

on, and having no cousins to play, or fight

with, i was then a son of an immigrant!

adopting men and women of dad’s new town

as my immediate relatives and watching them

enjoy my mom’s food and house keeping

i did overlook that i was born an itinerant!

considering a floating lotus, a perfect floret

my only girl’s welfare, a being accidentally

acquired to increase, at least, my branches

i am, now, a new, rootless, Canadian citizen!

© henry victor     06.05.2003

refusing myself

 

i love to accept all those who come to me

and all they bring to me to sell

to exchange, or to give as gifts

both grace and all mercy

but my smallness thwarts my deed

refusing that is not my race, color, or creed

snubbing, also, my own breed

giving freely into my control, my greed

with this i also refuse myself grace

like refusing a beggar who seeks to plead

or a debtor requesting yet another chance

but let freely a cheater to defraud

© henry victor     30.08.2003

me, a territorial hen …

time, that precise moment

will bring back my muse

easing the present that, un-

productivity, my current obese

releasing larger energy, power

into my mind and soul

refusing to lay an egg, like

that newly purchased fowl

in her new territory, my new home

and her new habitat

that is far, far away

from her former perching spot

overtly affirming her territorial

bent to move with ease

rare, but definite dissent

indeed, in that new space

am i, a territorial being, to freeze

like a computer before picking

another opportunity, to move

forward the past not licking

but laying my eggs

as a matured hen

again, with

a greater regularity!

© henry victor     09.10.2003

by the waters of the Pacific

by the waters of the Pacific

i sat down and wept
as i remembered the hundreds
of immigrants cheated
and let down by a culture of bigotry

on the weeping willows

i hung up my violin
and my cymbals refusing
to sing the songs of plenty and freedom

in valleys of the Rockies

and in spacious prairies my Caucasian
hosts wanted me to sing
some songs of joy

but, how shall i sing

the song of joy and freedom
in a land where the colour of your skin
matters the most

if i forget my rights let my right hand

wither and if i forget my honour
let my tongue cleave to the roof
of my mouth

if i do not remember your discrimination

or, if i do not set my rights above my joy
let me perish in this alien land

blessed is that one who takes up the cause

of colured immigrants and does not dash
their hope on the rock of prejudice

henry victor     27.05.2002

 

Spare Wheel

Sparsely used second-hand spare wheel am I
Tightly screwed down below the dark deck
Shut out of sight, sitting stoically nearer to street
I stroke, or touch not that passing path
Except in very, very rare circumstances
When one of them becomes indisposed
But only for a dreadfully short moment
Then I am tightly fastened once again
In that very same stealthily secret space
In a planet where sharing is just a concept

Sparsely used second-hand spare wheel am I

Not inside an exciting sportive automobile
But in the precinct of wheeling and dealing of divine

god in Abbotsfield!

in this land of plentiful abundance
god is a colored immigrant
and his name remains unknown
he rents his abode in Abbotsfield, Edmonton
that stinks with the smell of homeless john

in Beverly the Somali and Sudanese refugees dream

god breaking artillery guns and armored tanks
making hoes, ploughs, and pruning hooks
that their deserted land, once again, may prosper
with North Americans playing no messianic games

in wintry nights these men and women keep awake

by bombarding phrases heard on Sunday
empty and meaningless praise to an unreal god
a service to the poor, supporting with whole heart
structures that keep the rich strong and in control