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
"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
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
"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
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
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
My loveboat's #Captain,
Life is good sharing this view!
(I'm in your blind spot.)
#vss365
#haiku #senryu ?
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
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
Bewitched by our vows:
"...till you lie in a #corpse_fjord."
A gunshot wedding.
#vss365
#haiku #senryu
Beneath the #sea_thatch,
There's warmer water, they say.
A soul after life.
#vss365
#haiku #senryu ?
"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
Malayalees are dissatisfied with & unappreciative of everything. If the Eiffel Tower had been in Kerala, we would have said, "Bah! It's not even gold-plated."
Because of this, we did not hero worship. The incumbents always lost in elections.
I mean, in the past.
#CommonPeople
It was the #anvil_of_joy
When I could forget myself
And you were me
Awake or subconscious,
When you went and I am none,
Prayed for the last attack
On this unused abused metal
With echoes of past tremors.
#vss365
Today, in my mother's village, a politician contributed something to the village temple.
Trying to get into the junta's good books.
My uncles arranged payasam (a sweet) for the occasion.
"Why the payasam?" I asked.
"How else will you get people for the show?!"
#CommonPeople
It's election time.
I'm busy
With questions
For them.
R u free of bigots,
I might ask or,
The 10/7 H@m@s @tt@ck,
Was it a trr0rist @tt@ck,
Or,
The Query,
Did u give Water
when we begged.
Rhetorical questions!
Wasted #battle_sweat.
I'll stare at the sun.
Ignore them.
#vss365
"Arjun, did you just wish me Happy Women's Day?"
"Yes, Swapna."
"Bah!"
"Come on, I say it on the day I worship the #elf_glory."
"Is it today?"
"No, every day."
"Do you worship the chariot or the rider Sól?"
"Do you have to ask?"
"Bah!"
"To you too."
#vss365
In a triptych;
Three ladies then, confident, a bit unsure, one tired, two less so and smiling;
Them, a quarter of a century later, bright, successful, all smiling;
And, a lady like them, with a then, without a now,
When life vanished, #feathers_fall in a dry desert.
#vss365
My life would have been so much better if I had realized that:
1. Others think I am an idiot;
2. Lovers and friends can't understand what I say in those rare instances when they are interested in what I say; and,
3. Heads of state, elected representatives and government are not as powerful as the local chieftain (eg, residents association bigwig).
The road to fascism is paved with flimsy tiles that seem to be there for the common good aka appeasing the majority.
The road to a truly democratic state is rough and tortuous with bare tough ground for those who believe in equality.
#EqualityForAll
#Democracy
#HumanRights
"Don't touch our water!"
In my mother's village, even the politicians would take a stand against that.
But, not here in the middle of Trivandrum city, a mile from the CM's office, in Vanchiyoor ward.
Here:
1. A valve installed by the KWA and to be used in extreme situations was destroyed by scoundrels so that a member of the Guru's family would not get the basic minimum of a basic human right.
2. In the last 32 days, we got water on 7 days: Feb 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 19, 28. On Feb 28, it was a meager 1000L.
3. In this water line, people with multiple houses and rental property seem to be getting enough and more. In the best of times, they get water 24x7 while we get for 2 hours around 4 am.
So sick of such a sick place.
"Arjun, give me an example of a #kenning?"
"Kenning? What's that?"
"Swapna?"
"Ultra-irritant: politician?"
"Not exactly. Arjun, want to try?"
"Oh, Ma'am, how about majority-appeaser: fascist?"
"I think you two should go to the library and read about it."
#vss365
i can smell the blood
that will spill soon,
death is better than a slave's life
In a land so sick,
i might be sick of defeat
or I have lost my gods,
i won't let another's blood
raise a stink on my sword,
it's time to #swim to the sun
trying to be the moon...
#vss365
My #uncle was a fascist in disguise,
He spoke like you and me,
Hid his caste with an alias,
And a machete in his undies,
When he groveled in front of god,
And chose who he gave what I should get,
I knew his head should be on a pike.
#vss365
#AttukalPongala
#NoWater
It's a strange world-
Where I read a newspaper
To find the truth in what's missing;
Where I hide and smoke
Before being smoked in #stuffy traffic;
Where I shift to renewables
To consume more energy create more waste;
Where I love
A hypocrite with similar values.
#vss365
I looked at the photo of the kidnapped kid.
Ewww! It's not cute, cherubic, cuddle-worthy,
The wrong #costume for this fancy dress act.
I have a coffee table book for such affairs.
If you have a war or divorce or debt issue,
Pick the right pic that sticks to the sick.
#vss365
"I miss her, the way she cuddled like a #baby. Sleeps best with me, she used to say."
"It was my eyes, he said, he could see my trust and that's all he wanted to see."
"What do they see in each other?"
"Definitely not trust."
"They aren't sleeping either, I am sure."
#vss365
The last three of my gang have been disposed, forsaken.
From #dwarf to giant, old pact on a freight train from desert to home buried.
Strangers will do, we can joke, it hurts only when we are not mean.
Can we avoid that when we know nothing of no one, not even the lies?
#vss365
Out on #parole. Working for Copy Corp (motto: effingo ergo sum). Cash is in role-reversal.
In 'Prick & Jaundiced', Lizzie walks out of her lake (in which clothes?) with Darcy drooling.
In 'Passed the Wind', Scarlett says, "I don't give a damn." Will she abuse Rhett?
#vss365
There are 2 types of lovers.
There’s my type, wasting words on being trapped in a #prison called love.
She’s the other type. She spoke about her past only when I asked her to marry me.
"Killed my first lover. With a hammer. On V-day."
That's the day for such, I say.
#vss365
Long ago, I was granted a boon.
"I don't need no addiction," I said.
I am no #alcoholic, no abuser of no substance.
But, there's a catch with boons. And, prayer.
They like to tease, they do.
I ain't complaining about you. Found and lost.
It's the guilt that kills.
#vss365
Went for a wedding.
The couple did not exchange vows. Fangs pierced each other's throat.
We too had to have that love bite.
I was seated in between an Alsation and a gorilla.
Now, hanging in limbo between Heaven and Hell, it's a life with the #paranormal forwent.
#vss365
When I look at you, it's through me.
Your better parts hidden,
Not your bad luck,
Job, spouse, kids, dark circles, broad waist,
It's not a #twisted game,
I will pick one, just one,
When you seem hurt,
We will chuckle,
When you refuse to smile,
We will unfriend you.
#vss365
Circa 13 PA, the first alien on Earth noted that the #dogma that led to the decline and fall of the human race was:
'Whenever one feels like blurting out the truth, one should stay away from social media.'
(PA: Post-Apocalypse)
#vss365
If I ask you
What you are guilty of
Will you ask me the same
And laugh when I tell you
I don't feel the rage and passion
About your hurt and #freedom
As I do about mine
Will you ask me to name
That one who should not be named
Because it's me who has hurt you most?
#vss365
My first job was in the Creative Dept of Gods Inc.
First project: 'Create a God'.
"A do-gooder with a miserable life?"
"Boring," the Boss said. "That won't achieve widespread #credence these days."
"An anti-heroine with one good act and plenty to curse about?"
"Hmm"
#vss365
Got up at 3 and chased the moon
To the temple of 'Ma-Woman',
The god before the superheroes,
The tsunami didn't touch there,
Even as it took souls all around,
We tie bells on trees and hope,
No #snollygosters lying there,
A few fools took selfies,
They can be shooed away,
1/2
Mine or port will take that,
We will join the other bhumiputr
Never the majority or minority,
Another god buried alive,
Drowned in damned dams,
Their silence taken to be #velleity,
But listen!
From Everest to Diego Garcia
They will rise and we the error erased.
#vss365
2/2
The temple sweet on a banana leaf made the fingers that held it near a mature bosom look lovely.
She tripped.
Did a quick 2 and a half turn, half a #fandango, caught the flying item with my right. She crashed against my back.
"Saved it!" Had half of it.
She scowled.
#vss365
It was such a sweet daydream.
I was murdering all those who had hurt me.
God, typing names fast, muttered softly, “Give me more.”
Heard Devil whisper to God, "Could you put this under #dysania or clinomania? No autopsy, please."
Woke up.
I'm the murdered one.
#vss365
I was in a ghost house,
A guest not the ghost,
then,
Creaking doors, cobweb, meow and a woof,
Blood seeping, footsteps and shadows with no body,
And now,
Homeless, still faceless, scareless,
Still no #snollygoster, us no smelly rat,
Quite active on social media,
Boo.
#vss365
It's confirmed.
I'm bloody old.
I'm sure about everything I say.
I've not done one bad thing.
I've photos and anecdotes to prove I was the best.
If you ask me if it's #vermilion or muskmelon,
I'll share a better 3-syllable colour.
Don't call me an ol' goofy.
Not yet.
#vss365
The week before the wedding, we exchanged honest truths.
She told me she had a crush on Taylor Swift. In return, I revealed how I lost my virginity to my first love.
She found that that's fictitious.
The #limerence of the honest with truth is quite often an oxymoron.
#vss365
Life and love ended
With a cake au #muskmelon.
A stab well-disguised.
#vss365
#haiku #senryu ?
We had been acquaintances, friends, confidantes, lover of others. Never enemies.
Then came the touch whispering forever, the smile on those lips which knew it will be everywhere.
Neither lucid nor #moonstruck, it was love and lust at first sight. Of a different kind.
#vss365
On the 12th day, we got water.
"#Discombobulated, huh?" God asked.
"That's one too many syllables for me," I said.
"Well?"
“Why aren’t you sending the torturers to Hell?"
"But this is Hell! Where beauty is destroyed; the rotten are happy; the less rotten depressed."
#vss365
Fifth day without water!
In the middle of the city!
It's a lovely New Year,
In this #exquisite place
They call God's own country,
Such woes are not for all,
For the minority in any area
There's no country no God.
#vss365
#Trivandrum
#Kerala
“Remember our first time here?” she asked.
He looked irritated and seemed to hold back some angry retort.
“All I know is that I wouldn’t want to be here and see this without..." he said. “I'm sorry."
“Me too,” she said. She turned to stare at the #abyss in front.
#vss365
from my 2018 short story about memory, lost and found, 'This Year's Trip':
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2018/12/this-years-trip-part-1.html
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2018/12/this-years-trip-part-2.html
"Good there’s no one for my birthday," I said. "Then, long before mobiles, I cursed her while waiting for her call. She couldn't find a working booth. The same next year. She was in hospital. My last."
"A #remembrance that goes well with a #sardonic smile," said no one.
#vss365
Heard a shot at 4 am. Found a wild pig on my land. Still alive. Crushed its skull. Dug deep near a fallen areca palm. Got to a human skeleton at 10ft. Placed the pig on top of that. Covered the pit. Planted an areca palm sapling.
That's to #sever ties with such.
#vss365
🧵1/3
Stripped. Stood under the spring. For a long while.
Didn't bother to dress. Walked towards a house. Entered. A lady was working on a laptop. Took her.
Later, dragged her to the kitchen. Sat on the floor. Near a French window. Had porridge and pickle.
2/3
She made a cut on my breast. Suckled the blood. Took the wild out of me.
"You are a different animal each time," she said.
She sat on my lap. We stared at our collection of hundred or so areca palms. Enemies are never cremated.
"It's time to write," she said. "Be good."
3/3
Daydreams keep me alive,
Me the Superhero,
The all-caring-no-warts lover,
With no notches on belt/bedpost,
My mojo got twisted today,
With a daydream of Me the Real,
Walking on eggshells/off to the sunset,
With the (non-unrequited!) love of my life,
#Damnable? Indeed!
#vss365
I have shifted to Suja Mansion. A makeshift 1BHK on a terrace. “It’s got history,” the young broker said. The owner didn’t recognize me.
Our little mansion. A dream turned nightmare. My Suja and my kid died here. I'm back. The terminator never allowed to be #forgetful.
#vss365
"What comes to mind with HNY?" Freud asked.
"WYMM?"
"Ach so!"
"I was 14, with 4, wishing HNY. They asked. With easy idiocy & practised unsophistication, I said No. I've asked WYMM on every HNY since, from the tragic love to the frightening #acquaintance."
"Ass ho!"
#vss365
