STUNNED

Confused and wary like a
spermwhale, you are
nosediving; -

through the shadows
of terrible pain
ejecting ambergris.

Who was getting
the bribery
to fix the belly button?

This was not revolution.
It was evolution-
of a stinking city.

The gods were sleeping
on the lips of a pride.
Nurses were preparing the bed.

How far the sane voice
will reach, to deliver
the relics of a salted dynasty?

•

Unbodied, how do I touch you
groping? The message was not
clear. How to kill oneself on stage?

A beehive falls on
your head. Are you going
to scream?

Entire town was going
for a pilgrimage. The saint
was preparing for a self-burial.

A hundred thousand moons
were placed on your crown.
The sun was going to roll.

Charred bodies
were turning in graves.
Who was becoming untouchable now?

Give me a kiss of cobra.
My bandaged life
wants to sleep in peace.

•

His severed legs were
tucked under his head to serve as a pillow.
He was half-eaten.

Howling
was silencing all the shames
Woman, I am not coming home.

Satish Verma