a lone path

a sole light
lights thy path tonight
as you walk on sands
away from me Irene

there’s a moon over jungle green

covered by grey silver clouds by
the grey blue rich sea
by the seagulls
through owl eyes
vacant
empty
vacuum without you
my Irene

burning deserts – re-said inspired by disclaimer word & sudden amnesia at trying create the other on the spot..changed last minute. M’s right.

the desert was buzzing with swiss army knives
camouflaged boots
sand bridges falling down
black hawk down
they found an old factory
an old sewing machine

shall we tell the president
or first lady

the needle was examined
chinese guard summoned

“Hsuan, if the point accupunctures
inaccurately can it kill?”

eagle has landed
fox gone
carlos here
day of the jackal

John Wong thought for 5000 years
“May be”

There must be milllion needles here
old fucking factory
Bush was called
Weapons of massdestruction found”
war wasn’t pointless after all.

mom’s kitchen

mom’s kitchen
has dad’s ghost
that cries behind the green peeling paint
afternoon tea
night at three
as i wake
ravi dreams there’s a shadow
a ghost in the kitchen
is it ne?
the girl that strokes my brother’s hair

yahoo blinks off

yahoo blinks off
rain is enough
grey sea everywhere
skytower disappears
eight papers in a semester
bill gates is a a.hole
pirating our right to a better browse
can you see the line
i’m no explorer
i’m fire i’m fox
i’m blue i’m the sky
may is everywhere
irene kisses napier
jay jay cries

howl

thunder blindre blunder
summer storm
pissin small child
train window
monkeys read circus times
howl like a dutch stranger
across the tracks
silent smile not a rustke
howl but no midnight vocabulary
scowl your love softly with tea
in echoes of your heart that no one sees
my irene

nephthaline

i am
human
not
devil’s
favourite
son i claim to be
nor E’s
angel

niethercrucifyme

norbuildchurchesinmyname

let
me
be

outside my window

on the other side of the papakura railway track
is a indian rural village. anu masi’s dad’s village
at 4 he would go to the river. dark…early morning prayers
across on the otherside were the others that wife got scared of
like the five year old pink frock girl that Mrs. Rawal saw
noises and voices from old cemetary in halwad. black black black magic
nothing moves not even sound or breeze. the city gently sleeps

dark march on tuesday

hosed down – 13 times
mexican bandits fly off with candles
behind old broken railway line
uniform, copper, caffeine, cathedral
saftey's paramount
christians run
opening digits
bedini boudini
abu hassan
aztecs dont have gold
incas do
prisoners of the cuban sun
buffalo crews
small train
with little lights
filled with audio
cheap western poets
ipoded a purple chimney
feline felicity ferrari
unsound performance…no parliament
irene irene irene
recorded rhetoric off the tape
penn sound is guerilla
in disguise
carlos bourne's arch enemy
robyn my counsellor
is the law

Taj Bakery Juhu Lane

Early morning three am
when butcher shop shanty shingles
sleeps in blood
Barbers just gave last fifteen haircuts
Tandoor warm with chana and rotis
mutton in the air
a small durgah that protects
drugs sold
a temple on the mountains
as people rest by the side

Chinese roofs in Bombay

Million pigeons fill the mahalaxmi temple
grams thrown
brown tiled roofs
a TV antanea juts here and there
dimple strawberry milkshakes

cat found

in a small home at five when sunlight had a twilight glow
on the water tank we played besides
the river dirty dirty dirty river
trying multiplying tables
as seven dogs, i exaggerate of course
attacked the white kitten
i stoned them as i stoned pigs
it was a cruel thing we did
inhuman too
i regret hitting pigs with bricks
but saved the kitten
dad took a picture of all of us
b/w
we saved the cat and kept it home
as it ran away through the window
to return 7 years later
as it played with me
I woke up in a jolt
in the big open balcony
at 2 in the morning

floral board blue

i ironed my shirt today
after a failed attempt two decades ago
when i lost my first wrist watch
and lost every little thing that mom gave
the raincoat was torn in a fight
over jumping someone else’s fence
we were poor
mom was sad

mom’s kitchen

is small. a light filters million specks of dust over primus. fire is uneven
dad’s worried.
aluminium containers a tea pot that whistles…chocolate flavoured tea
it’s a small house…away from the ostentations of the landlord mansion
left behind in pakistan
it’s dark
mom’s away
dad’s gone
as i take sweet pickle
spread it on roti
since ravi is hungry
spill the jammy pickle under the bed
we are happy today
aunt’s gonna be here
a knock as she enters my mom’s kitchen
smells the potato pea spicy curry and says,
wow!

last night’s dream

dead people
grandpa grandma aslam
as i take a crack at venky
a forest by the hillside
as i sit with her
noises filter
is it TV
i take no chances
we run
she picks a cycle
i pick a red one
fix it go.
imtiaz is there for the funeral

Brocolli fries in olive oil

excess virginbake type potato
pompous cats cottom stefii
kitten spca’s gift…black white
return
exploring the kitchen
cricket mourns
she returns to book the flight
jared huia glued to tv
small smiley fluffy kittens
snowball cotton
mom calls i here
stare at pink tickets
wallpaper
brocolli smells nice in garlic salt
desktop smiles jj smiles
taste lingers on my lips
papakura makes nocturnal sounds
clinks bottles
drunks amble
brocolli lies for the night
warmth of microwave

the big red coffee mug

a
last life language lies
languish
late led lawless
hugs louisa in his sleep
winter poona is gentle on lust
tender on love…icy on first
we hug
we kiss
we star
in eachothers tragedy

cricket kills a coach

cricket kills a coach
cricket flies fields
cricket seeks glory
cricket goes gory
cricket gently sleeps
cicadas sing

masks spoke their own language

we did not recognise each other
happy as hammer reiterated
parnel still shakes
and she far away
earth shatters a cry from last life
suneal save me
helpless as tyger on banks of nile
you wash into amazon
anacondas fire colour breathes red
i cry i shake under the mask
masks keep us from recognition
masks speak their own language

enchiladas at new yorker

opp south bombay sands
took a malabar hill gujarati turn
the jains have attacked…beans sweet

hiral was there. mustard…pepper
baked killer potatoes
dimple was there and i hungry

a capricorn loves you forever
now sweetened and I’m pissed off
float has vanilla on coke
but the bite the acid the chilli is lost
neha has gone
new york

a plane quacks over west auckland

outside a hedge window
where pat shot a possum
swift arrow fast easy death
adam plays down at the slopes
a stranger is hidden in the bush
a brook slights slightly unsightly
stranger apprehended. charged
bed bounces over male magazines
veggie crunchie bulby toppers
massey has fire dogs chasing ball
silent conversation with sensai
about life after-life karate mobile phones
sheryl seems smooth silky beautiful
plane turns at piha like a cab to bond and bond
turner paramount on my mind. turns leaves
mom seeks death. i’m needed home. flight center
attacks malaysia with speed and vengeance
i sleep lightly for twin towers. Emma missed again

seeing you in the gray walls

tane shoves you in
as i argue with an english dame
nervous
loud
heat increases
i leave waiting for e in another room
parnell is shining light
tigre's burns

maa what’s that

a drunk man in the gutter.
temple bells go
jain gods almost you know
dad made mom cry
in pai nagar
i edged my elbow
fighting to bat with younger brother
cop's drunk
sand piles on the chowki
too much bournvita in my milk
i hurt my eyes with rubber band
premila is kind
dad's macho
hatred was a slow venom

factory bread

northern india where pakistanis fled
a wheat granary made of black stone
like the 'clean' church wall
look at the church wall it's clean
coward ran from beef lasagne
as grandma the other one send us out
for bread. dad was angry all the way to gwalior fort
hidden princess' pools…a headache carved out of southern stone
don't look at me my stone's clean
the yashica b/w camera is on a slow motion as dad gets in
too much salt
i love in my rice and dal
has cummin and corriander
i like ice creams
in a zoo
i like my face
on a stone tiger
holding its jaws
with hands and legs
small govt. chains
bind the mughal forts
ghosts come ghosts go

simulation

to be great one must have something
anything
common with an all time great

i like stars and damn bill for taking them away
in 1997 after 3.1 showed them like hansolo's pride
missed them when dirty dog dug the whole wall
came back
in 2000 they
as i opened my windows
to the stargates

20th Floor

sample time, music, kiss! kids
Kshatriya warriors seek to be understood
snap a sound
kill a photo
blackberry big tree
too many trees exit
interviews red blue jasmine
ice tea

20th benchless

san mao is a goat lost in a ram
of a life
start translatinf ugly unmade beds
each crease is a language
someone graffitied house of god
get a broom Jpeg the void

20th first bench

my bedroom window wears a broken glass
in translate apparel
my house number is 5
a distrust is goats sensitive broken charm
alarm
i like going to auckland museum

20th almost second bench

OCR changes code
translate creates interest
we need a translator to get over strata
How are we doing for time?
flash ideas
in a flash

tired eyes
wearing a sack

20th closer still to first bench

glaring simplicity is astounding beauty
I may say 7
777 times
111 times
too many…ends Translate

20th closer bench

ape oh straw fee (P)
dependancy
fork in pants
Famous 5 Kirrin Isle
George by rights
Copywronged
Lost glacier
Alive and Well

20th mid bench

green writing instrument
i need eyes
rain is fire
paper boats sink
black eyes sink in stars
sink in
blackness
radio rains bullets
flowers mile buddha
southern thailand
links – colourful – go
nowhere
may your ear not here
gift bounces like an orange sun

20th last bench

Long lost NZ poet
deep, south
young lives again as old
digital culture
hippie 60's syringe woodstalk
recuperating – giving back!
consulted by a skeleton
owned by ghosts

Roman warriors knock stone doors
snipers dance on muslim (BBC for moslem) graves

Translate 1 – 2007 – Ghazal

your arab robe’s gone

train chuggs
you pass me a look
at takinini new market and papatoe
fields go
weeds grow
graffiti bites NZ
venom of a viper
wheat houses
stray horses
sylvia park sparkles
your black eyes
pretend to look away
bounce back like an old rubber
cricket ball

Kids at Takanini Station

yellow dolphin
dirty dolphin
jealous dolphin
rings of satan
jaw dolphin
moth ball
lover
porcupine
ash kisser
class licker
the combined
intelligence
of small minds
archie has you sided
puke dolphin
kill thyself
falling on helpless tourists
black green yellow
silly silly silly dolphin
combined with pubic head porcupine
donkey kisser
suicide squad

2005 – written verbally at translate

mikki’s pa was dying of cancer
high on adrenalin we took to the streets
bombay streets…dust heat people at midnight
the kindergarten policeman with a flat foot
and thick moustache that i pulled
i was drunk
he forgives me…even understands
he was drunk too
we are the greatest democracy
as i took to the street
waved stopped a bus
driver’s drunk too
but accidents dont happen
just small kisses
at 4 miles an hour
traffic jams at midnight

you have your whiskey
i have my adrenalin
we both are drunk
love and poetry

moonlit kisses on a secret beach near mission bay

on blue windy nights
as love stumbles…falls
peace is out of fortune
i think of you
the regret is not why you broke my heart
the sorrow is you took a long time in doing so

too many people to ask who obliterated my heart
your name tops the list
a story b est left for another day

fatique at takinini

shakes a leg
on an empty thirteen year old station
smoking pee at nine thirteen
glares taunts
shows the finger
“what are you looking at?”
kids growing in a pc
country
throwing concrete over motorways

Mongolian Hyde

Sahara…a chili
wind thrown
to American Spain
This women comes from my dreams
goes to my dreams
green is the chili and fried the beans

on a moonlit cactus coated tequila night
god knows what that taste like but
smells good
Brown a rich tan like the colour on the wall

the sands are dry…pepsi bleeds
this women lives my dream!
fry a piece of singing cactus

as coyote sings to a lonely notorius moon
ash and ash in sands in a can with us

tears touch Chinese souls
confusing confuscious
sun in a can on a van

Hungry Bird In Rainy Forests
holding hands under a lifeless moon
blue rivers

the camel’s are hungry
the camel’s are food
drop by drop

drop
by drop

drop
by

drop

sahara dries
love’s heart grows

jesus’ faith moves mustard mountains
Irene books story
a mild yoke

Cold Night

green count dark down in cold winter
breathing smoke
flashtubelights
your smile is trivial
real
beautiful
Leonine
we notice eachother
your eyes hurt
my smile hurts
I drive off
with my flatmate
your questions
float in the thick air
its 9:21 not 10:21

Running

Running on the footpath
Running from the grave
Running to the churches
Running across queen

down down down
goes the accelerator
whistles light tunnel
a maori door opens
into the coal faded room
light bridges birds
tunnels runners
no seat belts
forty two winks
old bridges
new bridges
gone stations
new manurewaits
takinini butters chicken
for a slightly new death
in an old fashioned way
artificial is colour
natural is passion

self hatred is the new

love
brought on by white chalks
blinded by false friendship
which
like weed destroys everything
mutilates poetry
dehumanises help
that you offer
a heroes sacrifice
that turns friends into jealous foes
you can’t touch us
dont wanna
be a christian
would rather be be a paradise
seeking terrorist

dark castles may flowers

seen on odd stormy nights…a rain from nowhere
flooding the now here
she walks silently the duchess fair
an ancient mystery
a bond on frozen seas
as rafts will save
and rafts will crash
the silence of the foreigner
i saw you walking into the cellar
like a lady in white candle in hand
searching and lost
lost and lost
searching and yearning

the hospital

don’t laugh at strangers
stops industrial estates
with an iron grip on buses
in ancient china with sikhs, angelina
jolie’s pop…stay away…vicious
bite on the hand
run but he will follow you
call the cops…scream help
something somewhere gotta give

Just one question

did you
think
of me
today?>>>>>

I foiled romantic expectation
san mao rushes to sahara
‘the dependable’ yellow
link goes dead

Miner’s blow

Neurotic Nuclear
Japan shines
Christmas songs
children go along
elongate
candle burns wax
wax burns bikini
the Island!

castle rock banana benches

middlemore sidelined…new lynn gone old and grey lynn
typewriter killed my favourite blue mosquito a fly with flying colour
san Mao flies to spain. We need a translator to go to the higher strata
popcorn at twelve…popping orange, red yellow…Huia is here
word pictures…who stole my cheese? Miss Higgins where’s I?
In an ecological maze..where book better than a movie
singing
dancing
carrying a broom
you catch my I
Carlos is an assassin

Khartoum here

You cannot change Jihan’s life.
or Nora Jones’….all the stuff from rajastan
all the block prints and the cushins bedsheets and all
house furnishings
o kurtis skirts
all khadi looking
stuff. marwah prints.

employs 300 villages. earth will happen
till end of april i have just lost the car .
amer rejected the embassy
a smart lady officer. divorce certificate
send the ticket for the children to visit sudan
i lost one brother to a copy of the divorce papers
embassy
objection letter works with betty
i should go to dubai
an answer from darren

mara pappa tari mammi karta sara chhe

I comb your hair as holi’s passed
colours bring summers in Gujarat

You remember mom but don’t miss her. you tell me.
you tell your school friends with unnegotiable pride
“my dad
is better
than your mom and dad
put together.”

You scream when I talk on the phone,
go to law garden and kankaria
the dry rock pond

I tie your ponytail with red ribbon

crying for
undivided attention
mom killed herself

I talk to female hairdresser
learn new girl styles

crying clouds

did they weep when neha leaves
on the lotus leaf on black beach sands
white crosses dead near the navy's portugal church
fort connected to the sea, the fish…gretchan grutches our peeves
well and countless sunny specks as grains fly spectacular did they grieve
bhavin walks fast and toughens up…st francis black slopping tar under
pipal tree small lanes with small shops, boiled eggs temple's dead pond
just lotus…gorai breeze at the marshes as English book would like them
Famous 5 and Wuthering Heights – the swamps tell a tiger tale
a lust that is powerful…is it Irene? Is it love?
clouds shine

two rupee tongas

before the rickshaws came in
horses eat hay with jaggery

never turning but once
at the milk dairies
where blue tubelights zap
black mosquitoes
dolcha hanuman temple
yoga in the park
birds sing like cicadas
bats sleep

green boxes run sun run

trains…boxes…trolley…traffic…hole room
spilled coffee
safety shoes
counting a new down
eleven sixty one times

black bulb blasts

4.30 is not a ghostly hour
kitchen has old ancient phases
shadowing against lights
peace is mine
irene walks rain
south african ugly hate

oh Australia

I want to visit your beautiful shores
and the red desert of walkabouts
the aborigines that are half dead
I need to be safe from your
creepy crawlies, snakes, sea creatures
and any red neck son of a bitch
i can avoid and return to A

iran accents kiwi town

a scarf two pretty eyes a smile from paradise
arabian nights the falls of persia urdu ghazals
softly dew touches a desert from blue eyes
a candle
a shamiana
a masha allah
a kashish
a kashmkash
iran gently wakes
to the song of the love bird

sun is spilling bouncing crying

out loud
the waterfountains know it as
they sing loud with the birds…sea gulls
aotea is brilliant under the sun
catching colour head on and bouncing
did i say bouncing twice
its just me
intoxicated
why should drinkers be intoxicated
why not me
it’s democracy
concrete on motorway democracy
i said that twice
and twice thrice
the art monument
has a poet cleaning the glass door
and a bitch with a great ass
all bitches own great asses
animal humanity unity democracy
the crying girl deserves an ice cream
burger king is filled
with grease and hungry smiles
albert park
Irene park water falls park
lovers park
cambridge kingdom
clock tower tornado
singers park
taichi park
murray was a revelation
and liz smiles through fire alarms
no names she will kill you
pronouns no nouns please
denounce nouns
renounce nouns
life writing is here
bouncing from roskill to ymca to papakura
it was grey in the morning
weeping sobbing howling (ginsberg verb)
grey
and lo
its grey again
but the sun and the hug from kim
and the bitch at gallery and a poet and painter
working as a glass washer
made my decade.

Cold misty morning

cool

drop

dusty

moon

faded

fickle

dark

nice

early

cloud

papakura

papatoetoe

one

stage

wiri

lost

red

warehouse

chooog

choog

can’t sit school kids

New market

colour

shine

tunnel

lights

red

golden

green

dark

bright

Britomart

Stop Larissa

WMD – I ashes

they found a needle which
if hit in the right spot
can kill
and since
there were millions of needles
in the sewing factory

they are technically
weapons of mass destruction

caffeine (in tune of coccaine)

if u wanna get up
papa kura
caffeine
if u wanna take the
early morning train
you go on
you go hard
you go soft caffeine
if you wanna do eight papers
insane
if you are drow see
last night’s rain and pain
love goes on
hate is fun
just open
caffeine

may

you will always remain the goddess
of my dreams that i am too scared to touch lest
it goes…you were true to your index finger
that itself nurses my wounds
you were a walker and someone that escalated
every emotion in my stormy passionate devonport fire night
you are the new moon that volcanoes blood
you tame the werewolf in me
just one look makes me cherished love and cared for
you are the hidden angel behind my motivation
for every action
you are pole star across the deserts to Jerusalem
smile and my kingdom will collapse
under thy fight…my lady fair

dad

don't get me wrong but I admired you
The way you looked and your hair that never
receded like your sprite
and i guess i even loved you
you were a great artist a photographer
of great repute
a goodlooking bloke that alcohol
avenged with a paunch
now i know where mine comes from
you were cool always young like the Nicholas
movie…and you even looked like the emperor
of hindi films
and i did not care when you left at five
you know I'm not too much into male company
not someone that tells me what to do
I have made the same mistakes as you
may be my son
if I have one will not cremate me
blocking my chance of nirvana
and heaven
and cycle will be complete
vengeance thine

distant harbour lights

as you evade my eyes
shining like a jungle night
amazon flourescent green
snakes and carnivourus trees
but you felt it aah! I mean aye
as I lost the article, noun, adverb and adjectives
you felt it
I saw it in your eyes – denied

crumbing stars

in my palms
jingle jonter jojo
you came clean
in my dreams
going through motions
dolphins dance
tree trance
don't throw the ace
undermining the challenge
Mr. Varma

without the other person saying a word

if we did not understand
what were we doing in
eachothers arms within
few hours

The Truth

is not too
much
to ask for
your scales
lie
your venus lies
its the crab that lies
bows miss
the truth
but
truth is
my first love
my
only
true
love

you said

your heart was divided into two
you said…you are fair
I’m only fair in the sunlight
you said…you don’t
that’s all i care
as i jump the fence
fix the lens
near sightedness is a sad game
green on a hot day
cicada’s sing…sparrows sing
gulls sream…frogs dream
you said…I said
we said
who knows who cares

on krishna terrace

jj architecture meets new mirinda
bombay meets vrindavan
black monkeys
red monkeys
nathdwara the door to the lord
an ancient hill has shiva
rest is desert freezing at five
we push up
strength of mirchi wada
bhavin passes
cheloo engaged
electric shocks at touch
water sparse…udaipur near
women bathing in the pools
rome is not dead yet

pinto is grinding bhang

twelve shimmers in the heart of the city
stock exchange gone
air india building gone
sea rock gone
pinto explodes
it’s a curse
pinky gone’
a dowry curse
as a few terrorists find paradise
as broken bangles
of a future bride
collide with under-aged love

that’s my blood irene

Not for you on the egyptian tombs
nor for cleo to hear and feel
journey has began
you await me on otherside of arabia
legend is me…fairy tales you
roses are mine splashed on this tablet

holi as the fire rises

charcoal embers as fireflies
women in bright orange green red gold
circle pouring water around
dry coconuts thriwn in
last day of winter
mozzies die…
a cold balloon bursts back
exams near
pickle chutney grapes in the air

Realise

Realise as the sun goes down
Realise as you bite Higgins
Realise as the stars walk
Realise as the moon’s truant

Realise what I mean to you
Realise what you mean to me

Realise as tears roll by
Realise as mountains scream
Realise as orange strays
Realise as albert slants

Realise I love you
Realise you love me

splashing colours

round building
seema’s boob’s
dimple’s heart
mumta’s soul
neha’s shadow
hiral’s hunt
round stairs
nihar’s jealous
Loy Chacko ruined
madhav strings guitar on terrace
sea wolves are we? songs
evenings terrace
sunset terrace
napolean’s platform
krishna terrace
gulmohur terrace
baking juhu gali bread
as banana seller sells
fly infested fruit
using his turban cloth
to deflect swarming army
hair cut is cheap

Gutsy red flowers

holi is here
gasoline mixes with red pigment
looking for fast colours
marwadis put on head
geeta hides stares
pipes are out
drums are down
people soak
marijuana with milk
wooden boards
cauliflower dry
burning slowly
incestuously is holi
natalie fire…sanchita ice
red hot burning iron sheet
where’s kiwi? it’s iwi…

brother you and I

we acted out scenes
shopkeeper
customer

we fought for bat
and ball
played cricket in graveyards

as goats ate the grass
you eat me and I will eat you

you looked like simran
she looks like you

I ate my first fish
when I was five
drawing on slate

rains cartoons
and garamond A

tried to blow out cigarettes
rolled newspapers for a smoke

as tired eyes searched for Irene
guts I possessed to throw a jandal
at the rough mawaali

pinky frankee danger dogs
ymca showers too powerful
like the wind in papakura

elk jumps the lights
you lost it in the thesaurus

but where were we?
Oh childhood’s first diary
By the pond floats lotus
gamblers play

drifting through rin tin tin
snowy dies in planet big oranges

somewhere there’s Irene
where’s Irene?

manakau lights

out of toilet window
i see distant manakau lights
dressed as a woman
nine nights fancy
bulsar jennifer durgah’s mujavar
steel bends hollow
gold chain on sands
cycles fly
started writing biography at nine
ajit pleased brought poetry
to my soul unrhyming
pine thorns on black sands
standing on the ledge
blood on floor
irene’s a chapter
pigloo is in love
south african dream
did i do it?
stitch back back
from nylon chair
for national jungles
panthers there
tigers there
leopards there
blue sky fox
and billion mosquitoes
by a dry bank
launderers river
where axe was a picnic
that stole dum aloo
mohan’s recipe

Delhi 70’s

Kanta’s garlic breast on chandni chowk terrace
Moonlit terrace and boiling burning Dettol water
Eggs boiled with pepper salt and laurel and hardy
In Gwalior trains. Taj, Delhi fort, Huge Mughal Chains
Spicy sev at Ajmerish Kota. And ST buses through Chambal
The land of dacoits. A poor cousin child labourer
Worked in a cycle shop. Loved us. Shanker
Pappu dead. The fried dal dry in plastic pack. 25 paise
Pinjraghar where poor animals were locked up
And dad slapped me for choosing ice cream over jal jeera
Lions mouth pictures lost. Small lanes light blue shorts
Parsee Diwali. A firecracker burnt my sole. Sweets robbed
Pigeons fly over Ahmedabad, Gwalior fort and caves…

Magnifying

Your presence in my mind and life

My little baby

The kind of feeling I have is strange and strong
My little baby
Lost in the Sahara onion market
My little baby
Sleeping soundlessly in my arms
Trying to sort me out
Trying to love me clean
Trying to pass her English stage III papers
My little baby

Pramukhjini Pol

Ahmedabad has tar roads full of cows
Vasant shows shaan and million po(r)ls
Snake like. Vadilal ice cream
Billion kites. Ashapura colony
Duplex red doors laal darwaaja
Scooters rickshaws rising black sands
Riots where

egg shell santa

by a hot window shimmering dust
dad in an old lungi
tried hard to please
i was the quiet one
not shy but quiet and strong
phantom’s costed a valuable ruppee
i think he loved me more
but anguish
set us apart
the yellow foot ball
and the ping pong gun
and a santa clause with a broken head
hidden in red
how we cried when letters were cut
creating wedding names and dates
an artist had lost his way
amanush
the beard was cotton white
red paper conned
like the cardboard house
and miss rebello would scream
how shameless you art
a few stamps stolen at 11
booch balls for my pace
bulsar’s camel trip
to tithal beach
with fried turmeric
potato and thepla
mama walked by chikoo
mango coconut wadis
twisted river waaki bridge
and millions of bright sunday stars
on darkest of samia nights
sandeep’s there neha’s gone
once upon princess irene
frog race was won
when mom bled
ravi was mad with broom
king of delhi
dahanu trains
flying ranee
like a cool sunset on tracks
adter ahot brown sweaty day
in the indian sun
potato wadas with chilli garlic chutney
dahanu khapoli
sho’s shining thighs
waterfalls cools mama’s head
now that grand pa is dead.

Irene = mc2 into a million shining pink hearts

in a circle
signed in green

Illegal on an architect’s wall
we

pulsating pulsating

blood’s pumping a bottle of coke
and thus 347 began and I will come back as chalk

chained in 90 seconds

history sighs symond
no one there
green changed in just 2 years since
2005 that was my life

now gone ancient turned history?
same brown walls
same lights
burned out candles

people change
tigers cross
Joshua’s meteors collide

living a hole
no fire just rains
no jemma no jammie
jag no lee

and then the sun comes out…
Joshua says it’s a lie…

mohtarmaa

your attar is very strong
more powerful than your white veil
protects your dignity from sand
a goddess not a speck of dust
killed in an unseen arabian night
someone thought you'd strayed
oh mother of winds, storms, sons and warrior
you are the clan the woman, the man
the book is wrong you are oasis and paradise
and the breast of virgin women that need respect
as nile needs crocs and africa nile

Neo Perfection

a school boy sits on an aging wall
doing algebra homework and grammer sums
grass has been chopped as chili frogs escape
some snakes play cricket…some dogs rugby
without rules
1979 is a golden year..summer and grey uniforms
green sweaters and wicket keeper's gloves
school boy is a fast bowler
gets yellow card for absence and homeworks
sings Elvis on velvet red curtained stage
gets away with it.
teacher wears a dark black
string spagetti
if there is no black
there is no thing!