LAUREATE

Living normed lives
churning constant
fodder for the frivolities
of life...

feeding the cliches
so that they
fatten the facts
each of us
a sub-plot
in someone else's epic

stories merging
characters emerging
words,scenes,events
all in a race to
reach the climax

the incessant
debit/credit of memories
a vague picture
in an album
or a portrait in the heart
a love letter never sent
or a eulogy to
an unrequited dream

Some shining through
others falling apart
Some adding real colour
others being mere props
the dialogue,wit and humour
the smiles and the tear drops

all of us poets
ghostwriters for
the laureate called life
self-awarding the masterpieces !

SMOKING

I roll deftly
the memories
of many decades
in the paper of
a lost hope

I ignite it
with the
spark of love
life glowworm

 life warning
'smoking is....'
spiraling with every breath
as I smoke myself !

THE DIRTY PICTURE

She sits right next to
a busy city road
oblivious to its
vulgar noise and gaze
-the invisible destitute

the dead lump of tatters
that she cradles so delicately
could have been a baby once

the small pieces of
soiled glitter on her skirt
still ocassionally reflect
a love lost long ago

she digs the sod
probably trying to
reconstruct a timeline
her grimy nails
shedding murky milestones

The boys from the car
ogle at the oblivion
of her bosom
pushing aside
the hypocrisy
of the blouse called civilisation

the lights turn green
they speed up
getting late for
the dirty picture !