Teach him not to seek

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…

Swallowed words and the shadowed tonesOf voice. Quivering, I fill in his blanks.Green turns to unsightly teal of hospital bedsAnd he is softer than feathers, but I fly awayTo shield myself from the retch of the burnsWard, the shrill sounds of dying declarations,The floral pink-white sad skins of dowry deaths.Open eyes, open hands, his open…

And you are crying again.Misery is (you always believe) the only genuineEmotion and sadness, the way of the real world.She wouldn’t have any of it.Sage in the cubicle, healer of sorts.Three years your junior. She makes soul-talkSound as prosaic as aeronautical engineering.At the end,Her warning:‘Stop this right now.’What will you say of your feelingLiving with…

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…

For an approaching exam. In a nasal bassTthe teacher speaks of some besotted birdThat watches the moon every moment of the night…I stand up and ask,What does that bird do on new moon nights?Peeved by what she thinks is impudence,The teacher says the bird watches my face.The class turns all at once, stares at me.Ashamed,…

Swallowed words and the shadowed tonesOf voice. Quivering, I fill in his blanks.Green turns to unsightly teal of hospital bedsAnd he is softer than feathers, but I fly awayTo shield myself from the retch of the burnsWard, the shrill sounds of dying declarations,The floral pink-white sad skins of dowry deaths.Open eyes, open hands, his open…

science, of space, and the small small atoms that we wereall made up of. I wanted to be a spy or a scientist. Ithought you would help me become one.You made me fall in love. With you. And unknown tomy parents, with language.I started to write. But that is another story.I loved you too much….

Carries the basket-case of a husbandTo his favorite prostitute’s place.She sits in a veranda of the brothel andSomeone who saunters in mistakes the devoutWife to be a mistress of guilt, a woman of night.She plays along, she pretends to this visiting stranger,This wayfaring man, who suffers and seeks salvationBy day, but wants to buy a…

As punishment for promiscuity.Rendered senseless, set in stone,She stared in unceasing surpriseAs her sagely husband touredThe world with his treatises onWhat pleasure meant to womenAnd a powerpoint presentationThat showed close-up photosOf her fixed phantom face.He painstakingly pointed outThe moment of arrival of ecstasyIn the stone-dead statue—A coming that was a curse.A coming, he claimed, like…

Enough. Now I am theoretical enough.I am theatrical enough.I have learnt all these big big words.I can use them with abandon.I can misuse them. I can refuse them.I can throw them about and one day,I can throw them out.I am the renegade who can dropthese multi-syllable monstersfor studied, stylistic effect.I am the rebel who can…

Brahman GodAre EqualAnd Same.So IUntouchable OutcastAm God.Will YouEver Agree?No MatterWhat YouPreach AnswerMe. ThroughYour Saints.One MoreFinal QuestionCan MyUntouchable AtmanAnd YourBrahmin AtmanEver BeOne?

the earth in flesh and blood.”—Albert EinsteinWho? Who? Who?Mahatma. Sorry no.Truth. Non-violence.Stop it. Enough taboo.That trash is long overdue.You need a thorough review.Your tax-free salt stimulated our woundsWe gonna sue you, the Congress shoe.Gone half-cuckoo, you called us names,You dubbed us pariahs—“Harijans”goody-goody guys of a bigot godRam Ram Hey Ram—boo.Don’t ever act like a holy…