Friday, October 11, 2024

How to read a diary

 

Diaries flout the laws of gravity.

The heavy hovers at the top, 

The empty falls to the bottom.

The devil might be in the details

Or is she in pages with too little?


Based on an old short story of mine 'Reading Diaries'.


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/09/reading-diaries.html


gender neutrality

 

To participate in sports, we had to fill out a form.


In that boys school, the entry 'Sex:' required considerable thought. 


Shekhar, the realistic fantasist, wrote: 'Once a week.'


Winston, with spelling issues, bragged: 'Summa cum loud.'


I tried honesty: '#Flexible.' 


#vss365


Tuesday, October 1, 2024

complain

 

"Why didn't u complain sooner?"

said every jackass 

From KG teacher to judge & executioner,

"Ha! Don't get ur knickers in a twist 

About #melons or breed! Ha!"


Yes, my love, 

I'm in it for something, 

Is that the crime,

Or when u ignore all

And write about the sublime?


#vss365


Monday, September 30, 2024

An idea incomplete

 

When I wake up

With you by my side

A tough day it will be…


To let go of a dream

With nothing to hold on

A rough life it will be…


Waiting for #amorous moments 

Like those we never had

A bud plucked and tossed…


We are the lines lost

In nothingness 

An idea incomplete


#vss365


Sunday, September 29, 2024

the creep

 

My wife has shifted to another bedroom.


For the kids, I am an outsider.


They do not even want to listen to me. The silence #sonorous.


Yes, the creep was one of my best friends. I might have suspected what he was-is like.


But, 


what did I do?


#vss365


Saturday, September 28, 2024

(or)

 

#Lackadaisical,

Lover's succinct appraisal.

(or) Taken for granted.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?




Thursday, September 26, 2024

the wreck beneath

 

"Stare at the #azure

And avoid the wreck beneath."

#Evergreen love's ad.


#vss365

#NAlove

#haiku #senryu ?




Tuesday, September 24, 2024

the haphazard

 

We met at the cafĂ©, near the church, 

Where lovers meet for sin, 

I mean, for appam and stew.


She knew what I meant,

A chaperon stood #sentinel,

It was a tight fit at the table for two.


In life, 

That drag through muck of tedium,

The haphazard promises a rare jig.


#vss365


from


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/04/love-luck.html


Monday, September 23, 2024

thinking back

 

We moved closer. I held her head. My fingers got #entangled in her hair. She had one arm around my shoulder and another tightly around my back. I could feel her breasts against me. Thinking back, is it possible love or deep affection would have made it any different?


#vss365 


from


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-kiss.html


Sunday, September 22, 2024

to answer that

 

"To answer that, one has to #extrapolate. For that, one has to know about the topological defects in a space with dimensions decided by care, uncertainty, lust..."


"All that for: do you love me?"


"Yes."


"Yes what?"


"I love you. Btw, the defect is a boojum."


"Aargh!"


#vss365


Friday, September 20, 2024

a fanciful concept

 

It’s weird 

A dream might be a dream of a dream.


Was my love

A mirage of a fanciful concept?


I could have tried reality 

But that’s fiction to #placate (or provoke).


Did I cry about a loss

To keep a memory not mine?


It’s weird 

I lost you when you might be me.


#vss365


Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Job Market (for robots and others)

 

At the Job Mart, a dozen ladies checked me out.


"Recite 'Howl'."


"Impersonate Stallone in 'First Blood'."


"Cook coq au vin."


One brought out her cheque book.


"Drop your pants. Reveal your OS."


All I got was a #torrent of expletives.


What's wrong with my best part?


#vss365


Tuesday, September 17, 2024

festive times

 

"Festive times are #abysmal."


"Season for the haves, depression for the have-nots. For the rich, for those with close ones, for the veggie..."


"Oh that. I was thinking of murder. It's too easy now. Who will miss you? Not even when you are served."


#vss365

#HappyOnam (belated)


Friday, September 13, 2024

Civil Service

 

I'm busy preparing for the Common Service Interview.


It's not easy to master:


(a) the poker face: to get a bribe;

(b) the serial-killer mentality: to treat the needy;


and


(z) the godman aura: to make the other believe in maya (to think one succeeds when one #fails).


#vss365


Wednesday, September 11, 2024

gossip

 

Today, the topic of discussion in our book club was a DM we got from a reliable source. 


“X’s marriage is asexual.”


I was contributing to that when we were interrupted by a notification. The others got an update. 


“Oops, it’s not X, it’s Zee.”


“Zee, plzzz #continue.”


#vss365


Wednesday, September 4, 2024

leak in your attic

 

"Arjun, with women, you still hop on one leg. And that guilty look! You are over 50, man!"


"You have a leak in your #attic, Swapna. You too haven't changed. With men, you act as if that species is better extinct."


"I now know that's a fact. I too am over 50."


"Bah! 


#vss365


Monday, September 2, 2024

choice

 

There's the forest around

Inviting me within,

There's the thoughts of old love

Soothing and seductive,

There's the void you can fill

Creating fantasies,

There's the harsh ugliness  

Breaching the barricade,


Without #rhyme or reason

Marring sedate slumber.


#vss365


Sunday, September 1, 2024

Soliloquy's death

 

I said, "Let's #begin..."

She kissed and made love to me.

Soliloquy's death.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?


Saturday, August 31, 2024

to be god

 

Long ago, I tried to be god.

They made me read the contract. 

I've to leave you, point 13. Ok.

Can't even have a #wet dream, point 2. Whatthe.

Life will be like social media, point 7. 

Sans attachment. Sans consistency. Sans future.

Point 91 was the rub. NDA covers that.


#vss365


Wednesday, August 28, 2024

love's troubles

 

Dear #vss365 friends, life’s been crazy.


Fell in love. Expected trouble. 


First, the competitors. A duel with machete and fists. She saved us from #slaughter. Not interested, she said. Foes to bros in 5 seconds.


Second is worse. She said I love you. I’ve left town. More later.


Tuesday, August 27, 2024

life's meaning

 

My friend (10) and I (6) explored the derelict mansion;

In the first room, a corpse said Hi;

In the second, we found Miss Bland and Ish in flagrante delicto;

The third was no surprise, zombies of course,

Hid in the fourth, with the other kids in #quest of life's meaning.


#vss365


Tuesday, August 20, 2024

write stuff not so boring

 

If I could write about my dreams,

You might find stuff not so boring,


But then it might be lurid,

Or harsh truths will annoy you,


I might be my true self,

Anon in a #car in a cul-de-sac,


Waiting for a bored thug, like you,

To bash his head in, not ghosted like this. 


#vss365


Monday, August 19, 2024

Breakfast at Koshy's

 

Remember those days

We walked six miles for #breakfast?

Romance at Koshy's.


#vss365

#BangaloreDays

#haiku #senryu ?


Sunday, August 18, 2024

phases of life

 

"For you, everything is just a phase,"

In a story, she described me well.


 I was a saint at first,

A levitating frog-in-the-well.


Then the rejected anti-social,

Unsure, horny, giddy, I met her.


It's been one long slide after that, 

Being #bad with a flickering halo.


#vss365


Saturday, August 17, 2024

Interpretation of Dreams

 

"Class! Give me a #haiku or #senryu about the #apple. Arjun?"


"Newton, Adam, Eve

Gave the apple a bad name.

As much as doctors."


"Why did I ask you? How about you, Swapna?"


"In a dream I peeled.

Was it apple or orange?

Future in limbo."


"Hmmm."


#vss365


Friday, August 16, 2024

searching

 

Got an award for ‘Internet Search’.


It’s a story about:


the one love (no Internet footprint);

the one I should have loved (will not search); and,

the one I want to love (how to search).


The judges say, “breath of stale #air in suffocating times”, “nonvoyeuristic”.


#vss365


Thursday, August 15, 2024

whose sex life is it anyway

 

"You must be missing your hometown."


"Not really."


"Why so?"


"Prefer the anonymity here."


"Can't be that bad."


"When I discovered that my aunt knows the details of our sex life, I had to leave."


"We too know that. You have a problem with...the #coda, huh?"


"How?!"


#vss365


Wednesday, August 14, 2024

what clicks

 

"When we have kids, I'll be a househusband."


"I'll give funds for them. Not for you."


"What are you talking about?"


"Aunty, for the class debate: should marriage seek #resonance via partnership or individualism?


"In primary five?"


"Ma, will you..."


"Finish dinner."


#vss365


Tuesday, August 13, 2024

humanoids in love

 

"Can I court you?"


"You don't have to. I'm convinced you're the right one."


"Oh. I'm going to convince you I'm not. Start from there."


"Us humans would have gone extinct with such ethics."


"Us humanoids can't delude ourselves with a #crescendo or diminuendo in love."


#vss365



Sunday, August 11, 2024

Disruption

 

Do you remember the children's book that changed your life? I do.


It was about a ruler; a girl given as a gift; a nomad who killed the ruler.


It was about the brutal witch-hunt against outsiders, against those who disrupt peace and #harmony of the land with new ideas.


#vss365


Was that a children's book?


Oh yes, children got too old in my time.


What's the name of that book?


'Buried Gods'.


based on an old short story of mine,


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/12/buried-gods.html



Saturday, August 10, 2024

Cultural Fusion

 

Cultural #fusion:

Hypocrites never practise,

But wax poetic.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?



Friday, August 9, 2024

Voyeurs

 

What they saw:


He lifted the woman from the bed, placed her head in the noose, held her for a few moments. Then, he kicked the chair and watched her body jerk. He touched her hand, feeling for a #pulse, before leaving.


"That's your father!" one of the voyeurs said.


#vss365


from an old short story of mine:


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/05/after-nights-in-white-satin.html


Wednesday, August 7, 2024

graveyard acoustics

 

Loud grief of mourners

Hide the lost ones' clarion calls.

Graveyard #acoustics.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?


Monday, August 5, 2024

in the groove

 

The seven year itch--

Way to get out of the #groove.

Murder is cheaper.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?


Saturday, August 3, 2024

hate & love

 

"You should have died. Not Ma. I've hated you all my life."


"I know."


"You felt the same about me, huh?"


"Don't know."


"Suits your work, huh? With that stupid #motif. We are truer when we hate than when we love or some such crap!"


"We need hate to keep love alive."


#vss365


Friday, August 2, 2024

tone-deaf

 

"You have no idea about #Melody, do you?"


"Music and I..."


"Definitely tone-deaf."


"Hmmm."


"Your wife has moved out."


"Why...when did your mother...?"


"Wow! You remember I'm your kid."


"Are you?"


"Pa!"


"Let's find her. Jingle, right?"


"Pa!"


"Joking, kiddo."


#vss365


Wednesday, July 31, 2024

holiday? where?

 

"Say what you have to say with #confidence."


"Your idea of a holiday is the pits."


"This is better than climbing some mountain or going underwater."


"In a city? Near a mall?"


"I love this."


"Bah!"


"It's not bad here on this bed, is it?"


"Say that with..."


"Hush!"


#vss365






Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Till...

 

Till life was switched off,

Feigned #casual relationship.

Last #exhale, I love...


#vss365

#NALove

#haiku #senryu ?


Monday, July 29, 2024

clearing doubts

 

Why do I do the things I did so well,

When I know now it won't end well? 


Like the carefree walk,

Not so careless being Anon.


Like that unknown force I used,

To make love happen.


Occam's razor - the way to solve most #doubts:

I know I didn't do well in my heyday.


#vss365


Sunday, July 28, 2024

another life

 

The early morning light crept across the lake, nudging life into the #drowsy air, lifting a veil of mist.


On another balcony, a lady in night-clothes, inadequate like his, shared the same scene.


They looked at each other twice before going back to another life inside.


#vss365


from


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/04/story-tellers-sabbatical.html


Saturday, July 27, 2024

missed me?

 

"Hi love, missed me?"


"Why should I miss you when you have been on my messenger all the time?"


"But, I was not. I was sick."


"No, you were not." 


"Look, I should know..."


"Hmmm. I did wonder how you became interesting."


"Who..."


"Hush, I'm #busy."


"Ok."


#vss365


Tuesday, July 23, 2024

from 'lover's shadow'

 

But, you crept in trailing after

Her, under summer’s stern glare, frisky,

And slipped past dark veils of winter,

Sandwiched between, you were #cheeky.


#vss365


from an ol' 'pome' of mine:


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/04/ode-to-lovers-shadow.html


Sunday, July 21, 2024

successful families

 

I had to notice the young family. He ate first. Then, took the kid and let her eat. No talk.


What a lovely couple we were in such places. We talked. We were like that in court too, looking #successful seeking divorce.


I looked at the pool. That looks better at night.


#vss365





Saturday, July 20, 2024

animosity

 

Awkward/Artless

Neanderthal 

Idiotically

Managing

Onerous

Situations

Imitating 

Thick-headed 

Yobs


#vss365 #animosity

#acrostic


Thursday, July 18, 2024

Your look

 

“Your company seems to be the best company these days,” I said.


She looked at me the way her mother used to. As if I am beyond repair, forever a kid in oldie’s garb. 


It’s that smile in her eyes I love and miss. That keeps me #motivated to see another dawn. That alone.


#vss365


Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Loving isn't easy

 

"Loving isn't easy, my child. That's not an excuse. I could have avoided hurting you, your mother. God! One good thing I had, and I couldn't control myself. #Overwhelmed? With what? Not an excuse. I won't say sorry. How can I say that when I didn't let you have a life?"


#vss365


Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Ramu the storyteller

 

Stars still give me the creeps. 


"The Celestial Creep," Ramu said, "our first serial killer. The insides laid out based on a pattern of the stars.  Never a #rushed job."


We counted the patterns in the sky. We knew we could be next.


Ramu writes fiction now. For kids.


#vss365


Friday, July 12, 2024

From birth to death

 

Here, B2D manage events. From birth to death. 


For our wedding, we were in spacesuits. The priest too. Vows were kept to the minimum.


For consummation, she was Cruella de Vil and I Master Bates. Original & #enlivening!


They will take care of murder and disposal too.


#vss365


Wednesday, July 10, 2024

What's happened to us?

 

What's happened to us?


As a tragicomedy, it is a #boffo. 


Why are we so bitter?


If only the world was a lot less Kafkaesque.


If only we could quit our Mittyesque selves.


What will we be then?


The old us?


Why were we so hollow?


#vss365


Borrowed from my old 'pome' 'tsk tsk tsk':




Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Scrabble

 

"Quiz. 64."


"Quint. 42. Thank you."


"Most welcome. #Quintessence. 122."


"That's how you are in love too. Cheat!"


"How did I cheat, my love?"


"Don't you dare call me love."


"Your time is up."


"Nope. Exorcist. 54." 


#vss365


Monday, July 8, 2024

Constitution???

 

The Residents Association of this ‘gated’ community was not surprised when #apprised of the award for fairness and adherence to Constitutional Rights.


They removed unwanted elements from this Utopia by denying water supply and by using caste discrimination.


#vss365 

#truestory


10th day without water supply.


#Trivandrum 

#VanchiyoorWard


Sunday, July 7, 2024

introvert?

 

Did you call me an #introvert?

Did you hear me when I cried for help?

Did you want more sycophancy?

Did you discard all principles?

Did you do all that not to be like me?


#vss365


Thursday, July 4, 2024

Awaken The Ghosts


“Looks like it’s #Awaken The Ghosts day.”


“Really?”


“That one has no shadow.”


“Nice party trick.”


“Look at that one. No reflection.”


“Why don’t you look at yours?”


“Oh my god! Why do I look so pale? Need a drink. How about you?”


“I am having your blood.”


#vss365


This is based on the ‘handshake joke’ we tried when juvenile.


Go to a person and say, “I’m an alien trying to learn your ways. Can I ask you questions?  You reply. Then ask me the same and I will reply. Ok? Let’s shake hands during that.”


Then, ask about name, age, food, etc. Finally, “How do you have sex?” 


When the earthling asks the same after explaining, the alien will point at the shaking hands and say, “Like this.”


Yeah, yeah, terribly juvenile but a good way to be kept at a distance.


Friday, June 28, 2024

How I Wish

 

How I wish I could write,

A poem, or story,

Share my thoughts for some time,

To feel, you with me,

If not me with you.


How I wish I could love,

Not #furtive, nor aping,

Give you all that I can,

To have, trust again,

If not mine yours.


#vss365


Thursday, June 27, 2024

Death you taught well

 

#vss365    


Which tool for the day, my old pal,

Stiletto or #serrated knife?


When one is young and full of dreams,

None can change life and thoughts like you,

The clock will not stop in that frame,

It will for the eye of the soul.


One then acts with the aim to fail,

Like that love note sent with no name,

Death you taught well from far to close,

How to lose a dream and still sleep.


Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Rules of Love

 

Old habits die hard.


"I love you."


"What do you want?" 10 yo but familiar with the #draconian rules of love.


"Shank the Skunk should sleep with the fishes."


His 3 older bros ruined my rep.


Those 3 words still get the same Q.


B4 I scoot.


Thrice burnt, forever shy.


#vss365


Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Socratic questioning

 

After ‘The Lovers’, we went to the Empty Room. Frisked each other for weapons.


Topic: 'extramarital affairs'.


When two are #besotted with the idea of Socratic questioning, the walls turn red.


After the topic 'butter' (name the film), the windows had to be boarded up.


#vss365


Monday, June 24, 2024

Caste Discrimination

 

One of the reasons for the survival of the dreadful caste system is that it is often difficult to prove caste discrimination.


"Do not engage in identity politics," the offender usually says.


If it looks like it, and feels like it, it is caste discrimination. 


#CasteDiscrimination

  

us & them

 

The former Ward Councillor cried.


“Remember that project when we covered the stinking canal? I did NOT get a single penny from that. The MLA got his share.”


I felt sad for her.


The #tax-paying hoi polloi get their pink slip in better ways. Just a kick in the butt.


#vss365


Sunday, June 23, 2024

NOTA

 

Is it #skulduggery

Or #hardwired idiocy


When a citizen votes 

For none of the above


Methinks that's the right path

Of all by all for all...

  

#vss365

#NOTA



Friday, June 21, 2024

truths, lies and inbetweens

 

There are black truths, white lies and #bleached in-betweens.


Here’s one of those.


I did not love you.

Yes, we were good to/with/for each other.


But.


I killed you.


(And myself.)


In too many ways.

Literally and figuratively.


(This included.)


#vss365


Thursday, June 20, 2024

sweet nothings

 

#Hearken we did well

To sweet nothings in #haiku.

Sans interruptus.


#vss365

#senryu ?


Wednesday, June 19, 2024

making love

 

On the S-Bahn to Potsdam, two ladies in a loving embrace (like Rodin's 'The Kiss') mesmerized us.


On the way to (another) office, we walked slowly, 2 ft apart, never touching, whispering about the night before.


from 'A #Critique Of Outdoor Eroticism', 4th ed., $12.99.


#vss365 


Tuesday, June 18, 2024

fractured faith

 

Go six feet under,

Memories, sweet and bad,

Beneath the vacuum

In this vault without light.


It's the eyes, the smile,

The trust, if you must know,

Those that are etched deep,

The breasts, the place for me.


When our lives were snuffed out,

Did You gain #fractured faith?


#vss365


Monday, June 17, 2024

Art of War & Peace

 

Never call a #truce,

Says 'The Art of War and Peace'.

That keeps both at bay.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?


Sunday, June 16, 2024

Complaints Division

 

“Is this CD, the Complaints Division?”


“What is your problem?”


“Water.”


“Go to him.”


“But, he’s the one who’s not giving me water.”


“Ok, go to her.”


“Will she help?”


“She will tell you to go to him. This is CD, the #Canoodling Devils.”


#vss365


Wednesday, June 5, 2024

romance with normal people

 

The first meeting with my agent:


"Area of interest?"


"Romance with normal people."


"I don't promote fiction with farmer, poet, cashier, #librarian, ornithologist, superheroes, doctor. That's usually smut."


"Banker, lawyer?"


"Romance?"


"Politician?"


"Death wish?"


#vss365


Monday, June 3, 2024

not worth selling

 

June 3.


The last rom-com was taken off the air. Even a gender-free sexless from death to life show could not save the genre.


Love is not a commodity worth selling. It involves too much pain too little gain.


Poets Anonymous members now write about a #crush on an alien.


#vss365


Saturday, June 1, 2024

the architecture

 

One session with the marriage counselor fixed us.


"Understand the #architecture," he said, "the love."


"Love gave every action something extra," I said.


"I miss being part of the other even subconsciously," she said.


We had to leave the structure built with another.


#vss365


Friday, May 31, 2024

used, misused

 

“Tchah! Stereotypes and misconceptions, thy name is man.

 

Blue skies, green canopy,

Vales and dale, brook and #willow,

My hair these vines,

My arms these caressing tendrils,

The birds and the bees,

Remembering pulp romance?

 

A few four-letter words

Used, misused...


#vss365

 

from an old short story of mine.


Sorry, just not in a state to pen something new.

 

https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/12/4-deal.html


Thursday, May 30, 2024

Oh, these names!

 

"What a lovely name for your baby? So...green!"


"I was so brokenhearted. My hubby finished off the three-moose MIL made."


"Tiramisu?"


"Oh, these names!"


"Brokenhearted? Did you mean D-e-i-d-r-e?"


"Oops! What's Deer-#drey then?"


"Deer in squirrel’s nest?"


"Chweet!"


#vss365


Tuesday, May 28, 2024

ramble

 

"You told me to trust fantasy more than reality. I told you I had no fantasy left. I know your fantasy you said."


"Naughty?"


"A little. Those calls! You used to #ramble on and on about the latest in physics."


"The precursor of modern phone-sex?"


"A bedtime story.”


#vss365


from


an old short story of mine 'The Liars':


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-liars.html


Monday, May 27, 2024

rot

 

Dead #diurnal dreams,

Nasty nocturnal nightmares.

That's my life these days.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?


#NoWaterSupply (sixth day)

#Trivandrum (rotten administration)


Friday, May 24, 2024

delirium

 

Light from a half-moon gave me shadows to chase. 


A touch woke me up. Or, was it the smell of jasmine? 


She touched my face and then my chest. 


We undressed slowly and made love. I heard voices.


"The worst is over."


"Not when the virgin realizes it's a #delirium."


#vss365


from an old short story of mine called 'Stochastic Resonance'.


I use an old acquaintance as a character in this story. A few days back, I got to know that he ended his life by jumping in front of a train. Prayers for him.


https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/08/stochastic-resonance.html


Thursday, May 23, 2024

dull day

 

Another dull day. 


It was raining. Traffic was nasty. On top of a hill, the car brake failed.


Had a vision.


Plastered on some wall. The skewered #brindled man. Well done like a juicy tikka.


Drove 2 km to the workshop. A dull drive with prayer, no incident.


#vss365

#truestory


Tuesday, May 21, 2024

free of enclosure

 

I didn't expect it. I'd even given up on it. No dearth of excuses either.


Blame the #bower of fear and expectation I called shelter.


Keeping it is going to be tougher. With my history of self-defeating destructive mentality.


Somehow, love should be free of enclosure.


#vss365




Saturday, May 18, 2024

our world

 

With you,

Every hour the #gloaming comes early,

Hand in hand skin to skin,

Breathing in the unsaid words,

Edging till we are crazy,

In our world away from all,

The many-hued one, 

Saved by a late summer rain.


#vss365




Friday, May 17, 2024

house with a hole

 

The house with a hole in its roof isn't a place for ghosts. People go there, within that once-#riparian now-pedestrian forest, to find themselves. Life's never the same again. To find, to lose, to never find again, to lose forever. It's no place for ghosts. Who listens?


#vss365




Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Persuasion

 

"Class! Today, let's share our thoughts on #ethos, pathos and logos."


(Silence.)


"Arjun, why don't you start?"


"Those are the three Musketeers, right?"


"Swapna?"


"Ah Persuasion!

In any form, freedom bound

By you, heart or mind."


"Out, you two!"


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?


Wednesday, May 8, 2024

My curse is my luck

 

My curse is my luck,


(my brain sizzles

in this hot #aer with no hydor

but that's not at play here)


When she left

I survived 

To keep her alive,


When life crumbled

I stood among the ruins

Without falling once,


There's no release 

From this jail

With no locks no exit.


#vss365


Thursday, May 2, 2024

Finally...

 

At first, I was a fanatic,

like every lad with too much god 

fancying himself as an immortal #aster;


Then, a leftist,

a Woodstock wannabe not the good- 

for-nothing leech in a party;


Finally, a capitalist,

when I have no money I'll 

defend your right even if I hate it.


#vss365


Friday, April 19, 2024

the abused

 

Then, 


these steps took us to the water

where I tried to swim (what a joker)


(the ladies right across)


Now,


these steps reach rocks

and mud (and the silence of a graveyard)


(the abused river shies away)


There, 


I will #lock my soul in her depths

(to hurt her more?)


#vss365




Thursday, April 18, 2024

vote for...?

 

"Who should I vote for?"


"What's the choice?"


"A scholar brown-nosing to the manner born."


"Scumbag. The others?"


"Supporters of killers."


"Fit for a Wild West #saga?"


"Beam me up, Scotty."


#vss365


Tuesday, April 16, 2024

not one in my dreams

 

I scurried forward like a #rat, turned around. There were three thick-set men with machetes.


"What did I do?"


"This is what you get when you go after another’s woman."


"Woman? There's not one even in my dreams."


"Hush! We will leave you in one piece. What a pity!"


#vss365


from


https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/10/bumpkin.html


Monday, April 15, 2024

after the wedding

 

"If your husband says let's walk to the river for a talk, run in the opposite direction!"


That's the first tip I got after my wedding.


He said that now. I'll go. A #brush with death? Or, the end? Damn!


I love him. In a way.


I love his brother too. In another way.


#vss365


from an old short story of mine 'King Solomon's Wife':


https://gatheredthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2021/04/king-solomons-wife.html



Saturday, April 13, 2024

calm chaotic one

 

It must be love

If I come back to you 


When 


I'm high ready to conquer all,

Blood is #fluid but does not flow,

I build flimsy barricades,

I don't have another fight,

oh the list goes on, does it not,


All I want to do is to rest 

At your feet, calm chaotic one.


#vss365





Saturday, March 30, 2024

poets!

 

We were on a cliff-

To jump or make love-

A poetic line crept in,

A pebble to trouble,

Not a #stone to rest upon.


She saved the moment,

Succinctly,

"Don't!"


We hate poets 

Moaning about lost love

Or war or Nature

Before paella 

Or idli-sambhar.


Jump 

Or

F...


Be kind.


#vss365




Friday, March 29, 2024

blind spot

 

My loveboat's #Captain, 

Life is good sharing this view!

(I'm in your blind spot.)


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?




Thursday, March 28, 2024

rage

 

There's much to rage about,


From vacuous relationships

To open discrimination,


But it's better to be silent 

In a place perfect for that,


Maybe not in a #desert,

But do sit under the hot sun,


Let the nonsense simmer,

Pray for a suitable end


For the fool that's you.


#vss365




Wednesday, March 27, 2024

carelessness

 

Will the steps take me to you,

Will you lead me to the deep,

Those are the wrong questions...


When I am here for respite

From guilt and barter or is to feel

That lost touch with carelessness...


questions shying away from the #light

with no admission in the shadows...


#vss365




Thursday, March 14, 2024

gunshot wedding

 

Bewitched by our vows:

"...till you lie in a #corpse_fjord."

A gunshot wedding.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

soul

 

Beneath the #sea_thatch,

There's warmer water, they say.

A soul after life.


#vss365

#haiku #senryu ?


Tuesday, March 12, 2024

trust me

 

"How do I write a poem about the #grief_of_the_elm_tree ?"


"Write about the wind."


"How will that help?"


"Trust me. Just do it."


"O careless dear wind,

Why did you leave the tree bare

To let the sun peep?


What now?"


"Leave it as it is, a failed #haiku or #senryu."


#vss365