Cupidity

Aggravated
injury, after a man tries
to fall for goldilocks.
*
The yellow
metal, had lost the shine,
in full moon of November.
*
Suddenly
the life opens the door
to an autumn sunrise.

Satish Verma

Forebidding

Standing knee deep in water
invoking the sun god
going upward phenomenally.

I was learning to forget
the edicts of a fake lord.
Would not recognize─

the dirty tricks of a godman
in the garb of a hermaphrodite.
One day he was...

One day he was not. The wild
czar was pounding his chest.
A snow-capped moon was─

going down unseen in the
blue lake of words. There
was three dimensional appearance

but no deliverance for
the poor speech in distress.

Satish Verma

Holy bath

The smiling god,
sitting on the throne
wants the invisible sacrifice.

The sounds of executions
which should not have happened,
to please the sovereignty.

The night vision was perfect.
You can see the roof caved in.
An old man was collecting the spent shells.

The anguish was writ large
on the walls of kitchen.
Smoke still rising from an oven.

What are you going to do today?
Stargazing? Going after the lust?
Or feeding the pigeons?

Satish Verma

Withering

One hazel moon
of November. I was thinking
of an iceberg.

*

The seared
shoots of grass. The path
covered by autumn leaves.

*

A weeping willow
lays down the branches
to embrace the river.

Satish Verma

Speaking one's thought

Not able to sing─
you have become the song.

You will make me very poor
by giving charity.

It was a black dahlia, ready
to beset the moon in lunar eclipse.

And the word implant was not
appropriate. It has become toxic.

Downward you search the seeds
in dark. The spirits waiting in wings.

Death was the most beautiful thing
to happen on the stage before-

the play starts. I will invite
my paramour to light the lamp.

Satish Verma

Pathless

Mob tries to set
ablaze a Taj Mahal
I was flying a kite.

*

Tears swell in
the eyes of moon. Paper
lamp has come for a sail.

*

The long night─
I was ready to handover my
family silver to moon.

Satish Verma

Dawning Blue

The trust was intact
but you would not carry
it far, the stillness.

Propolis, that is
what you needed to plug
the echo of insult.

The polarized crowd
was throwing the rocks
at the moon.

May not fracture
the curve, you wanted
the release from unknown.

Where were you, when
the flame was extinguished?
How will I read the writing on wall.

Satish Verma

Understanding Death

In death probe,
what you intend to find?
A living fossil?

*

Open the tomb,
you will discover─
dried rose leaves, some salt.

*

During the spell
of ache, I stole the
kiss of moon in dark.

Satish Verma

One Reality Show

Between the night and day
I will go─
for an icarian fall.

A commitment to resistance
was over. I am
melting under the moon.

Hold my hand. A
dramatic front was ready─
to destroy me.

Celebrating the death
was an intense mistake. It
was becoming a practice run─

for the hangman─
to sharpen his skill. There
was a long row of sinners.

Satish Verma

Deeply Scarred

There was no sky over your
head. You sidestep the lake
and drown in a stream.

After carpet bombing of
scars, you missed the moon
and skimmed by
virtue of birth.

Lifting the stony vices
for thanksgiving. A puppet─
dies on a string. Nobody
claims the body.

Mistrust runs deep. You
will not ride the tiger─
again. The urn contains the
ashes of blue eyes.

Satish Verma

Standing Still

The full moon was
rising. November nght.
I throw away my walking stick.

*

A shiver runs
through my thoughts.
I had lost you in the thick fog.

*

The large fig tree.
Had not tied the black thread
round the big trunk?

Satish Verma

Open And Closed Book

Salmonella wanted
to broker a truce─
between life and death.
We were very scared.
The questions were never answered.

A fault on the earth’s face.
Who will ask the─
hangman? The tree was
standing without roots.
The questions were never answered.

Who was the spider
and who was the fly?
A rose was unfazed;
it was a naked thorn.
The questions were never answered.

Satish Verma

A Tree House

The rubble was still rising
after the direct hit. The
private dens were in ruins.
Salicin? Do you know the─

willow-bark? My father said,
the spirit of the tree healed
and removed the suffering
and pain of man.

Celebrating the cease of
fire, death moves in a circle,
seeking the truce between the─
cage free neighbours.

Don’t pull out the tubers, the
roots. The ancient souls─
live in them. The psyche, you
will have to read off mute greens.

Ask the questions. From the wounded
earth, will be an electric response.

Satish Verma

Recovering

Outgunned by life, you escape
to epipheny. The inner─

voice had betrayed. Are you
ready to meet the believer?

Sad ending of mithridatism─
in the wake of realization.

The growing clout of pink petals
was overwhelming the dust.

The leaf body mimics the
rocks. From the rear ocean

a wailing picks up the blackberries.
I was ready for the final assault.

Predawn blitzkrieg begins.
You start picking the apples from

the green eyes. The truth─
was never so near to moon.

Satish Verma

Recovering

Outgunned by life, you escape
to epipheny. The inner─

voice had betrayed. Are you
ready to meet the believer?

Sad ending of mithridatism─
in the wake of realization.

The growing clout of pink petals
was overwhelming the dust.

The leaf body mimics the
rocks. From the rear ocean

a wailing picks up the blackberries.
I was ready for the final assault.

Predawn blitzkrieg begins.
You start picking the apples from

the green eyes. The truth─
was never so near to moon.

Satish Verma

Changing Landscape

Living on shifting sands,
do not go for the rains.
One day you will become
a robber crab.

A cross-dresser you were.
My candle burns to see
your face in dim light. Moon
said, it was not yet dark.

Playing with rustling leaves
of autumn. I went on collecting
the gifts of winter like my
variant moods, yellow, brown and red!

Go and meet my deadpan
silver. It would never be my
sizzling poem. I will pour the
green river in your blue eyes.

Satish Verma

Plasmolyzed

This was a troubling concept─
to start a dress rehearsal,
of ethnic cleansing.

Something pokes out─
on the tail end of the story.
There was no heart in the game.

You are driven like a─
flock of sheep. The shepherd
lives in the fortress of slogans.

A placebo effect was quite-
evident. Everybody was
drunk on sugar pills.

Unadulterated, the swearing─
had become genetic. You start
walking on the burning coals.

Satish Verma

For Nothing

You broaden your desire
base, by legitimacy,
ignoring the will of
storm-ravaged sea.

As the sun meets the
falcon, I will give you─
a call, that demons were
entering into the dreams.

The time stoops to pick-
up the wounded peacocks.
The red hibiscus will write
your name on the wall of bricks.

This was a swan song
before our parting. The
darkness will find the stars
hiding behind the strewn─

feathers of blind moon.

Satish Verma

Returning Home

After dispossession,
collecting the dolls─
dusting them off.

Who was watching
you, dousing yourself
to give a political statement?

Cutting the leaves
of grass, I open
the book of Walt Whitman.

This was a targeted
killing. I will not join
the funeral procession.

A mistaken lull.
One day I will─
shoot endlessly.

Satish Verma

Disaster

The cult, the─
rape were also in play,
when Icarus flew out of Crete.

Carrying the sky
on your shoulders when
you were burning.

After visitation
I will write a poem
on the triumph of failure.

The dialect of body
will tear down the bed
unlearning the love.

Whom would─
you believe in distress
unforgiving the sword.

Satish Verma

The Art

The embedded curse
of a roving planet, brings
out a story of otherness
versus loneliness.

Adultery was on cards.
An issue was rising
between the string
and the bullet.

Let us pretend. There was
a serial killer in every─
home, who will come out
at night to send the message.

The curved dots will join
to give an explicit image.
Do you like it? Can
you put it on mantelpiece?

Satish Verma

PREPARING FOR NOTHINGNESS

Like the thinker,
why did you not-
become thoughtless?

You do not display
what have you not.
you come out in bazaar.

Surviving in darkness
in the depth of the─
inverted sea.

The rise and fall of
the chest gleaming with
water and flame.

The want, the
desire, the thirst, kissing
the inappropriate.

Satish Verma

The Perceiver

Becoming you,
I perceive your face─
in body swap.

*

The stakes were
high, when I missed the moon,
in the desert chase.

*

The soul
was trapped in an earthen pot,
while catching the shadows.

Satish Verma

THE IRONY

The six minute run
on the beach.
All the way ducks saluting.

*

Weep not.
Believe in the dark.
The sun will rise.

*

The wheels
will not stop. On the
tracks sits a quartz.

Satish Verma

The Blues

Such were the times.
You wanted to become sane
after losing the mind.
*
A death trap-
looking in the rear mirror.
The first word you spoke.
*
The ugly turn
of the events. This November
a moon eclipse.

Satish Verma

Uprooting

The intrigues, the twists
unravel the woven threads
of the mystery. Traumatized
and dazed, I play-

dice with the unknown to
find out the truth.

Confronting the purpose
of existence,
you come out of the flesh
after flogging-
and start dancing
with bones.

Extremely poor,
you play the hand
and fail.

Elsewhere someone
climbs on the pole
and sets the house on fire.

Satish Verma

Arithmeatic

What was the
secret of the path?
A tree was climbing on a hill.

*

Temple festival.
I have come from faraway
to pick up the marigolds.

*

My clouds
will not reach your summit.
They are heavy with rains.

Satish Verma

Soul-Searching

Incubation was not
complete. The thirst of
thoughts will find a
convoluted shell─
wrapping up the kernel.

Throw a stone on the
sinner. This was on
me. I will accept the
rocks to open up─
a fountain.

There was a silver screen
for the lovers. You will
not regret for the raw
emotions. A sperm whale
in the sea will spew─
a streams of profanities.

Satish Verma

UNHEALING

In the waning moon
you were talking
of fathoms.

*

The water
has countless images.
Do you need a boat?

*

The vampires.
Why you go to the ruins.
I am bleeding.

Satish Verma

SANE DEPARTURE

How age slips away
from your hands?
How deep you will
go in the cavernous
mind of time?

Why brother,
why, the healing started
to hurt you and you
did not want to
stitch the name?

No tattoo will tell your
address. You want to
go anonymously, leaving
the moon behind
the brown hills.

The shadows are─
lengthening. Time was up.
Lay down your arms
and walk away with
empty hands.

Satish Verma