Wednesday, October 24, 2012

the struggle


to remain a little longer under that blanket
in the space heated with my own body heat
i preferred but struggling against, in the same
time, idleness to live the ideal of an early riser


i win the battle but with an empty trophy
i wake but to empty trash for collection
to shorten a word to fit into an empty page
to re-naming empty, un-rhyming phrase as poem


do i complain, then, to heaven the unfairness
picking crumbs fallen from the table when
the partying is over and the music is stopped
as i still secretly hope the distant water to be real


for too many mirages i have witnessed
after driving many miles through the land
of opportunity, a journey I began leaving
my mother land to book my six foot space


henry victor     22.10.2012
 


 

an emerging poet


as i carefully chewed my snack to digest, to chew
it thinner and tinier than the sesame seed
i had just consumed, i noticed my face on left
side suddenly swelling, covering also my ear


prompting my daughter to drop me in the emergency
clinic where wires connected my beats to a heart
monitor that informed a confusing signal, also, confusing
the young doctor in his early stage of a long journey


my three-year old grandson, an emerging poet
next day narrated to a friend the story of a monster
from that broken building hitting his grandpa
on face and he took the old man to the hospital


henry victor     20.10.2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

next


men in turban sometimes i see
two other times i see three four
or even five seated around the picnic table
my rest stop beside the walking trail


they chat a chant in an alien tongue
effectively excluding others speaking
the language of the adopted soil
then i saw these men sitting on table


announcing another set of values to drive
others away from vicinity; they moved
one day to lay aged frames on platform
instead placing picnic food like others


as i probed what’s next they
vacated to the ground to sit around
playing a pack of cards one man even
waving as if inviting me to the game


but in heart i pondered who’s next
after my brother Rex, followed by mum
and dad, had crossed to the other side to play
that game none had come back to name


28.08.2012

Sunday, August 26, 2012

nature’s nostrils


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



did the poplars beat paper calendars
in announcing an imminent autumn
aren’t they nature’s nostrils to smell
air from far mountains, or that farther

coast carrying the frost to soon churn
them into soft snow to scatter in a sombre
mood melting human arrogance to move
faster and fly higher than the tallest hills

soon windows and doors will be shut
air-tight not to let grief of the deciduous
to enter hearts of men, women, and children
creating new music behind barred doors

26.08.2012

Note: A painting done by Gitanjali Victor when she was 12 years old.

 

 

Thursday, August 23, 2012

fear

my tiny brain frequently billets larger fears
letting the fungi like invisible roots
to enter my flesh, fibres, bones, and the soul
covering my mind with mildew of rottenness


this flesh inside my skull, now, freely gives
away odour displeasing to my inner nostrils, my heart
transforming my psyche to that of a restless dog
running from one day to another with the tongue out


this thorn in my head, the many dreads dwelling
inside my flesh will come out only with a sharper one
the brain boarding a bigger fear belittling my brain
by flushing content with fleshing of a grander vision


22.08.2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

strangers


destiny walks in the familiar mall
with unknown kind and colour
dress, dodging me always
lest i stop to converse with her


forever she remains hidden
to my eyes like the hiddenness
of my own soul so close
yet unfamiliar as hiddenness


of that life-giving life
blinded to my mind, intellect
with neither logic nor vocabulary
to affirm or deny with confident collect


14.08.2012

curled tail


dawning dusk of my life to enhance
a sense of a companionship
in an abode abandoned by a pet bitch
of over three decades i brought in a dog


whose tail was curled like
the mind of a retarded human
that i tried to uncurl repeatedly
but succumbing to un-success


unwittingly also enhancing
loneliness adding extra weight
and cluttering luggage reconfirming
van Gogh’s ‘misery never ends’


14.08.2012