free ice cream

with a blank brain

and a plain paper

i sneakily stand

for name and fame

a lot greater

like kids running

to the ice cream vendor

with no cash, or coins

but abundant desire

to lick

a poem to stick

like an ice cream

of no price

henry victor     02.09.2002

the scarecrow

you were hardly seven

amusing me with heaven

with your success in tricking

me with a hilarious scarecrow

that Tina, our pet dog

mistook for a prowler

in our garden of shoe-flower

barking loud with fear

at a scarecrow with shoulders straight

wearing your torn frock for dress

and a curd-pot for head with face

chalked on it, your first artistic creation

henry victor     09.09.2002

kiss from my granddaughter

she knows to kiss

and many kisses on my cheeks

she has stamped

and that too lovingly

so from her

i plead for a kiss

holding her closer

to my wrinkled face

she licks my face

as if painting with her tongue

and then giggles

as if, now, it’s done

henry victor          08.07.2018

costly play!

i do not claim to discern Him well

but i’m certain too many will yell

if, with confidence, i dared to tell

for His play this world and my kind

He did fashion placing folks like me in a stable hell

He always does bring me a copper

when i beseech Him for a dollar

part of that He also expects me to offer

in His temple as the plate is passed for offering

kicking me hard as if i’m not His toddler

i quickly run to Him for rain for my lawn

desiring in sight and in heart much green

He does give me much rain for my lawn

drowning also the earthworms, the jugular vain

maintaining my green, impoverishing my lawn

i do not claim to discern Him well

but i’m certain too many will yell

if, with confidence, i dared to tell

for His play this world and my kind

He did fashion placing folks like me in a stable hell

henry victor      05.05.2007

crab in the kitchen sink

i am a Dungeness crab with my claws

now strapped with rubber bands, my food
and my hiding hole taken away, leaving
me seated in someone else’s  kitchen sink

sinking with my manuscripts, pens, papers

and pencils to my death like a doomed rapist
murderer ready to walk, nay, sit on the electric
chair, soon to be flushed out as staunch stink

but even here i have not lost my control

to give, to give self as food, age old whine
my writing in heart, that poem, my protest
against being a puck in the skating rink

henry victor     09.04.2013

give give

‘tha-tha’ that sound
the Tamil word for grandpa
from justin’s lips
is the sweetest in my ears

‘tha’ in that dialect
means give, or give me
making ‘tha-tha’ to mean
give, give, or give me, give me

‘give, and give me
your time, your love
and your all
to fill this tin

just for fun
tha-tha’,
dreams my grandson
my little big man