ANCHORAGE

I do not want to take you, 
either the road ahead, 
or lovely gyrations 
on low stage of voicelessness. 

The swoop of eagle 
on a little bundle, 
of chromatic fever: 
was it unbirdy? 

The tree of death grows taller 
than indelible darkness 
of life, harvesting 
tongues. 

Part of me were you, 
I had abandoned in fog. 
The gate will not open 
in common courtyard.

Satish Verma

GOD’S BIRTHDAY

It was not mandatory. 
The penalty 
of hope. 

From a killing machine 
propane and fertilizer. 
It was a god’s day. 

Don’t want to contend 
against porous death. 
Words, I will not betray.

Satish Verma

STONING

A weeping willow was telling 
a trove of memories, 
for an ancient provenance 
where the lake sleeps. 

Why the sheen of water brings out 
ephemerality of ‘if’. You want to 
take a holy dip, never to come up again 
in the throes of birth and death. 

And waves, why they clap when they 
are hooked up with the winds? Was it 
to marry the sky? I am counting 
the stars fallen to the street. 

Back to the moon in skunk night 
of slimming curves and opulent 
nose for a ride in bed, sorting out 
the remaining stones.

Satish Verma

COMPARISON

By candlelight 
crooked fingers drew a face 
on water for the sake 
of sun. 
Night will tell the fate 
of flame. 

Smothers with Magnolia’s 
gloss. 
There was an eerie silence 
near the alarm clock. 
Time to wake up. 

The flowers in the book 
will never read my story. 
A naked bird hops in a cage for, 
a parallel existence for another journey, 
meeting an intelligent end.

Satish Verma

MY FAULT

Your genome was climbing down. 
I hate to count the steps. 

Feathers hurt sometimes 
after the end of flying. 

How far was the moment of dust? 
You were still swimming in saline water. 

A collective guilt will pay the price. 
Blissfully nothing else was to be done. 

On your behalf I will not accept any alms 
I was giving it, and I was taking it. 

Was it a disaster, a visit from the lake. 
My feet were wet and my eyes were wet.

Satish Verma

FALLING FALLING

A translator hits the stop 
a parable tells the million lies. 

The spill was overflowing the walking fire, 
dissenters were rising from seabed. 

Looking inward I open a pathway 
leading to home faraway. 

Who will keep it contained, the smouldering 
anger? The colossus was bleeding inside. 

Cut moon, as the death walks between stars 
into forgetful sky. Overnight it was red. 

The necklace crosses a lake becoming 
a swan’s neck in tearing chains.

Satish Verma

SLIPPING

The danger lurks in corner. 
After double helix, 
Now cobalt pencil writes 
the history of mankind. 

Dirty bomb gives determinate 
meaning of peace. I turn back 
to be eaten alive. Like a blade of grass 
you bend for the cuckoo. 

Rattle snake in a jar or in bush 
strikes awe. Everything comes to 
naught when you move faster along 
with teeth. 

Suspended beans unhulled, were bent 
upon to obliterate the white roots 
suspended in air. I purse 
my lips to kiss a rope.

Satish Verma

A SOMBER NIGHT

A volcanic kiss 
was becoming ungreen. 
The shark was coming. 


All night it was raining. 
The sap was rising 
and love-farm was deluged. 

A blue moon 
walks on the dry eyes. 
Why the tears had gone to exile? 

A mole was growing 
on the face, 
while a smile was sitting outside. 

When I woke up 
into her arms, the moon 
was blith and round.

Satish Verma

LOVE SCENES

1. 

A body 
lives in my pocket 
I fathered a hundred moons. 

2. 

You touch me 
with wet nose 
I know you have come. 

3. 

The golden grapes 
on your tongue 
were very sweet. 

4. 

Illusion 
becomes a squatter 
I will peel off the tangerines. 

5. 

It was 
A gold mine, at night 
hissing on snake.

Satish Verma

PICTURES

1. 

Somebody puts a hand 
on my shoulder 
I turn around 
suddenly it was moon. 


2. 

Do you hear 
the inaudible voices 
of abstruse frosting. 
The leaves are falling. 

3. 
What you did not know 
was my pain. 
When I felt illumminated 
in dark.

Satish Verma