Jamun Pop
This cask is full of jamun
Rhinestone memories, jaded diamonds,
Gulp it in, spit it out.
As if the blind gods
spat out by Kolhatkar in Pandharpur,
suddenly got stuck in my throat.
Seeds like mangled flamingos
in the middle of the salt flats
like the terror and beauty of an unplanned moment.
more stones, more fruit, more seed
In deep purple salt plains
They mix into a nest full of ants and wait,
Hiding as if in the bushes.
With a pack of boiled peanuts,
For that time to come when
Food tastes just ripe
Popping in one,
then another and
mustering up just enough
courage to say,
Yes, I have seen,
Stones turns to fruit
Seeds turn to eyes
A Little Thing...
A little thing says, arrive.
A little thing says, dissolve.
A little thing says, rise.
A little thing says, look.
The thing you never ever wondered about,
where did that little thing hide,
up until when you called out its name.
Yesterday, girl sang a note she’d never known before,
As if it broke free, where from ?
Like a shrub swallowing the evening light,
a flush of plume and blue ,
little berries and moist bites,
from the packet in the little hands,
teeth smile lavender,
Little things gleam startled
that even littler ones might have been.
Who said the world was done, dusted, complete.
little thing, are you hiding behind that curtain
telling this stone-grind, to wane.
I am berry,
eager,
shall spit purple water make this night sky blush.
Little things do not appear to binoculars.
They hide in their yearning to be found.
At a protest
Sitting on the steps
Of the townhall
The mob protests
In sign language
Fury ripples
Through trembling fingers,
eyes shouting.
Those who can speak
Have forgotten how to,
They wait at the signal,
and drive away.
Cauliflower
Brain is cauliflower,
trying to understand the
bus driver’s state of mind.
Do not wash your hair more
Than thrice a week
Says the insta-reel.
The shruthi box
Drops by an octave
week after week.
An affected poem does
not make a good one.
So the cauliflower is boiled
and hair is washed.
Image Credit: Merve Ünsal for हाकारा । hākārā