To Him

Somewhere there

I have told him

I shall no longer

seek his company

I shall not ever now

pick roses for him

sit looking at him

with longing-full eyes

write passionate verses

 for his hands

I will not touch

the cold domains of his heart

with my burning pain

Until next lifetime

it is a break up 

O mehboob-e-illahi !

You in Me

“I think of you in bed, your tongue half chocolate, half ocean…”
— Anne Sexton

Sometimes words run dry

desire doesn't let

any other word

fit my goose-bump skin

my heart is ice

my veins on fire

the palace of memories

crumbles

I think of jigsaws

and half-globes 

do they fit?

like you in me

and I imagine eyes

hands, thighs, feet

you falling sunshine

I a patch of sleet!

Hamster Heart

Hamster heart 

caught in a wheel

life runs

out of breath

sometimes 

licking a wound

makes it worse

yet the primal instinct!

soul standing apart

in a Sufi whirl

thinking about

a warm cup of tea

hands holding

other hands

on a cobbled street

trampled memories.

The Cosmic Woman

stranded in herself

her soul tugs at

the invisible gyve

the light

at the end of the tunnel

distant, cold,white

a planet chained

to its orbit

the indifferent cosmos

has forgotten her

between eclipses

and glares

her craters ache

for a pause

and some respite.

Shiver

 Kissing a thousand frogs

sometimes she would see

the flicker of a prince

lips brushing

tongues digging

fingers that reached

only the cleavage

never the hidden treasure

beneath that skin

bodies and organs

the cosmic dance 

desire,lust,seduction

a missed heartbeat

a moment

liquefied

in the corner of an eye

dreams quiver

and vaporize

time you traitor

kissing the next disguise

she waits to undress

the light

she hides beneath

folds of flesh

and a shiver travels

down her spine.

Guest Appearance

some absences are conspicuous
looking for something lost
that was never yours

listening to baul songs
I understand nothing
other than the pang
snip,snip,snip

rust mark of a pin
on two papers
they must have been together
long back ago

valentine loneliness creeps
like unusually cold February
grief never fully thaws


The crater in my chest is back
so is the tumor in the spine
love keeps making
guest appearances

Consumed

Drawing a food chain

I look at who eats who

soul-poetry-love-soul

the vicious cycle 

the soul the first link

the last too

all predators/consumers

in between

Dearly beloved

Did you feel 

my warm heartbeat?

like you sometimes hold

your cup of chai

in both your palms

Did you taste me

as delicately as you

slip a warm roasted peanut

between your lips

I accept now

why love consumes

why you consumed me completely

But you could have done it

with love.

Bad Omen

humans are strange

they dress up graves

and coffins

just like they do brides

They won't care

unless your death can fill

their gossip inboxes

the one who might write

lofty obituaries

shall do so

to keep the superhero tag

of compassion 

for the doomed you

you will be alone

dying

drop by drop

or falling

floor by floor

images flashing by

faster than the speed of light

the little girl leaning on her father

the young teenager's first kiss

the woman in love

giving up her world for it

the mother who survived

the child who didn't

the wife hiding the scars

behind the makeup

the brave woman

who didn't let her hand

or her voice shake

even when her soul 

was falling apart

all of you

she loved

she had only soul to give

and a body

but you wanted more

so she let you go

to find your more

and let you push the dagger

deeper and deeper

into her heart

smiling

The mirror had cracked that morning

the hairdresser warned the bride

it was a bad omen!

Don't say you love me

Image : Google Images

Chooses the tenderest words

to describe a lost love

if you choose to remember me

sometime, in a rooftop cafe

whenever on a beach, if

a receding wave brings back memories 

of my impossible dreams with you

smile at the sea

the moment your newborn

clasps your finger in his palm

whisper my name in his ear

tell him he lived in my dreams

if you write an autobiography

leave a chapter blank for me

for ruins can't be mentioned

in stories about homes and families

Choose to move on

for burials must be brief

no words are ever appropriate

don't say you love me

that is the worst part !

DREAMS

Image : Google Images

My slow fingers

draw a thick line of kohl

in which remain 

inscribed the names of 

all my lost loves

my hands shake

my heart flutters

counting the deaths

of lovers, of loves

blood-soaked dreams

I roam the corridors 

of Macbeth's mind

Did I kill my dreams?

Did my dreams kill me?

MORSELS OF MEMORIES

A wooden elevator

his arm ensuring

she is cushioned

****************

Tea- one sweet, one bland

She takes the first sip

from both cups

he smiles

*******************

 "Your plate looks 

like a painting!"

She smiled and

wiped his lips.

********************

He was in the pool

feeling the gentle rain 

on her face

Their hearts were moist

*****************

She looked at the skyline-

"I want to go away from this city"

He wanted to keep coming back

they were looking for each other

*******************

bodies felt so insignificant

when souls merged

all their curves

Typhoon

the moon they say

affects the waves

The raging sea

a longing lover,maybe

I am the coast

you my typhoon

Blind Love

At the onset

battling the awkward sea

of silence and unfamiliarity

we drifted towards each other

saving the best

of ourselves 

from the world

to exhibit, serve

to get love

once the facade of novelty

wore out

and you saw the scars

you retreated

and I stood there

naked, like a fool

displaying my soul

to someone

who couldn't see 

beyond my cleavage

Who says

love is blind

it is selective delusion !

Scatter

Disperse neuron by neuron

back into the cosmos

let them be obsessed

with their self-created I's

pore by pore dilute yourself

be soluble in your lover

Scatter like stardust in a galaxy

not like shards of a broken mirror

have the courage to be vulnerable

break like a wave at the shore

in his skin, his eyes and his soul

like dew dissipates on petals