I speak alone because

when it came to menbecause they never botheredwho left sediments in thembecause they looked forward to going downwhen an opportunity presented itselfbecause they went drywhen it got muggy and unpleasantbecause they froze to frigidity in their bedswhen they were in the unlucky landsof those who had fallen out of favourbecause they were rapid in youthbecause…

Of my people—father’s father’s mother’sMother, dark lush hair caressing her anklesSometimes, sweeping earth, deep-honey skin,Amber eyes—not beauty alone they say—sheMarried a man who murdered thirteen men and oneLonely summer afternoon her rice-white teeth toreThrough layers of khaki, and golden white skin to spillThe bloodied guts of a British soldier who tried to colonize her. ….

—Archibald Macleish, Ars Poetica.birds don’t sing in their flightfor them flying is a musethey compose mid-airweave agnostic versesneering haughtily at our absurdityas they float over our meaningless mosques and churchesand those patrolled international bordersand other disputed siteswhere the guns go bang bang bang all the timethey swing over there losing their birdegos(ego is difficult to…

just for him.”call it a love potion.liquid dreams.scented desire.wishes boiled to a blend.three cinnamon podsthe dried darjeeling leavesmilk and pearl-white creamsimmering to a syrup to be filtered.as you sweat in its vapoursand imagine how the tea tastesagainst his lips his teeth his tongueand the pale pink insides of his throatas you stir in the sugarand…

in so many ways it would take / an encyclopedia to describe and steven-spielberg / or some-such-guy to produce the special effects for a blockbuster version /not just the stories of how/ you charred to death forty-four of our men and women and children / because they asked for handfuls of rice/electrocuted children to instant…

Step 1: Take a beautiful Shudra girl.Step 2: Make her marry a Brahmin.Step 3: Let her give birth to his female child.Step 4: Let this child marry a Brahmin.Step 5: Repeat steps 3-4 six times.Step 6: Display the end product. It is a Brahmin.End.Algorithm advocated by Father of the Nation at Tirupur.Documented by Periyar on…

I could never refuse.But, there are things I ask of you.Love, I can’t be a candleFor I know it is an ancient lie.The candle is for the solemn,And for those who yearn a slowAnd settled tenderness. Not for us.It is for those who can bear to leaveA mass of their waste, the dregs of their…

snake lying curled under the fridge. It couldhave been a very poisonous cobra. Veryquickly, I chose my mode of attack: Acid.Staggering, I reached for the glass bottleso that I could pour the yellow-green cheapacid on its slimy body, burning it to death.“Stop it”, the snake hissed in pure Tamilconnecting with me in the language ofmy…

with saffron clothes and caramel words.Years later, her husband won her backbut by then, she was adept at walkouts,she had perfected the vanishing act.

Carries a civil war in his eyes, travels a lotAnd speaks up when you are subjectedTo society’s customary stone-throwing—This hero has a history of scandals.He keeps secrets like slave-girls.Trust this man to never let you down,Or stand you up, even if it involvesRising from the dead. Amen.For marriage:Trust a man only after you have dunkedHis…

once—i was making choiceswith insanely safe ideas offleeing-madly-and-flying-awayi was a helpless girlagainst the brutal world ofbottom-patting-and-breast-pinchingi was craving for securitythe kind i had only known whileaimlessly-afloat-and-speculating-in-the- wombnow—i am locked awaya terrified princess waitingfor-death-and-not-any-brave-princei don’t dream or thinki just remember and winceat-voices-of-the-past-smirking-in-sarcas monce—i ran away in the darknessnothing beaconed me more than theprospect-of-solitude-and-the-caress-of-a-m illion-starsi ran into…

Robinhoods and Messiahs that never lieAre done to death, Evil winning the fight.Heroes are bled; not just deprived of lifeGod turns in his throne, the dead in cold gravesAnd perhaps death ends the lifetimes of strife.Is slaughter the prize for not being slaves?Brave men encounter blows, fight their case,Leave forsaking the world they came to…