Poetry at 45°C

It’s 45° C

North India is burning
but a stone does not melt at 45°C.
Of course adding zeroes to one
Doesn’t changes anything
But place a couple of zeroes after ‘one’
And water starts boiling
Place another couple
And it’s sufficient to make
a stone fluid.

At what temperature
one history changes into another?
At what temperature
the pumping-machine caged in bones
melts into a bursting heart?
It’s heat-wave here
at 45°C
But a dream does not melt at 45°C.


Its 2010 May
in Delhi its 45°C
and somewhere faraway or may be nearer
iron has melted into
women and men.
Don’t be surprised
You know 45°C multiplied by centuries
is sufficient to melt
Iron into Will.

But I know
Some of us frozen casted
Won’t melt at any temperature
we stay cool at 45°C
in our conditioned forts
(though I have gone crazy at 45°C).

The fire in the earth‘s womb has surfaced
Its burning everywhere
The tar roads in Delhi are melting
The iron-ores outside Delhi are melting
Sometimes even cold ash melts into iron......
Is it 45°C or more???
-LP

Loss

You are not you- your "self"

your step, your stance is something else

a golden lace and a marbled face

silky hair, sporting ware

of glittering labels and branded fables

The moulded rhapsody

may be size-zero or a macho body

Sliding glaze fairness ablaze

So much and so many things to have

So much and so many things to be

Except the one that you are – your "self"

-LP

(this is an English version of my poem originally written in Hindi )

 

 

 

The National Anthem

The national anthem
is a nice song
recited with pride
and thrilling gong
the glorious nation
its expansive stance.
But the national anthem
fares poor
its unable to arouse
the filthy ears
stupid folks stooped in misery
living a life
thats daily drudgery
beating rape and shit
of course thats not all gloomy
as i say
they too love music
and respond more
to Bombay's thrill and ding-dong
The national anthem is nice
but a poor song.
-LP
(this poem is not meant to dishonour Tagore.But its ironical that a person who was always suspicious of nationalism as an ideology his poem was selected to epitomize the same!)

Questions to a metal

Suppose
one day
early in the morning
Moon knocks your door
and asks
'did the moon light
glittering last night
soothe your soul?'

Suppose one day
while you are crossing a busy lane
soot and dust smearing your collar
a Flower springs up
and asks you
'isn't my gentle fragrance better than this-
did you enjoy it last sunday in the park
kissing your beloved
didn't you feel me deep somewhere
inside you?'

Suppose one day
you busy in your office
cramped in piles
of data and files
a cuckoo comes
'I woke you yesterday
when your alarm didn't work
wasn't it sweet?'

You will think I have gone crazy
the moon , the flower, the cuckoo
shall never ask
how much we love them
or betray.

But
I have a question to ask
I ask
the
hard, tough, heavy metallic bullet
Were you hurt
when you got hit on a man's living flesh?
Were there any painful scratches when
piercing the head you sped?
Squeezed inside the dead lump
blood clotted around
did you feel suffocated?
Do you remember the hands which fired you?
(they might have got their share back!)
Can you distinguish between
the hands which fired you and
the hands which scratched you up from mud and earth?

The moon, the flower, the cuckoo
will never ask a question.
But I ask you questions
O heavy metal:
Would you refuse?

-LP

Advise to unemployed youth

Nothing matches a government job
security, stability and a fixed income
and even much more that depends
on your capacity to scratch
and a post to match.

Civil services is the best you can have
if can't be a doctor or an engineer or
a petty 'babu' for lesser soul's not bad.
An IIM degree's another golden catch
great packages- forget recession
market's back to glorious days.

Don't waste your mind on silly themes
the world is now as always has been
romancing dreams should be secondary flavour
first comes your future
A bright career is the best thing
you can offer the world, after all
charity begins at home my dear!
-LP

MY DREAM

i have always dreamt
one day
my words will become a spark.
i have always dreamt
one day
my words will have sharp edge
i have always dreamt
one day
my words will make you stand
i have always dreamt
one day
my words will hear you speaking
i have always dreamt
one day
our words will be CONVICTION
not convenience!
i have always dreamt....

-LP