retrieval

how does one retrieve you

from wherever you have gone 

shall I serenade ballads

or sing sopranos

maybe you like opera

none of those are my talents

poetry is what is latent

I can't write similes

but seasonings of metaphors

can garnish it well

a few words from you

I can weave into my tapestry

thinking of it as embroidery-

(if you wish I can put numbers)

so help me retrieve you

fallen

your brush 

strokes in the paint

as translucent as skin, 

I observe

the facial expressions.

this planet

since we arrived here

holds all our secrets

no matter how much you try, 

the painting will not be an antidote

of your bloodied past

it would rather enhance your instinct

when your blade cut across bodies

"yet your engravings now project gratitude"

ripples

ripples in that lake
brush our shadows
sharp edges of rock
deflect light
moving sun melds
showing you and me
in throes of passion

"come feel my inner strength"

marked

I advanced into the graveyard
hang out behind granite markers,
wondered how something marks ones life,

I did not pander to my instincts
words invoked action-
I shuffled those around

things you wish you hadn't done.
so much time passed
before you knew the difference,

I looked back for flames
that I never believed in.

shifting with the winds

with utmost care
he rubbed the tarnished trophy
and summoned the ghosts.
he never expected to find his own mother 
in that mist of shadows- 
shifting with the wind 
which came out of nowhere. 
he reached out, 
shaking as he silently cried, 
to embrace that ghost, 
but he found no flesh nor blood nor bone, '
closing his eyes he swam back in time 
and reached home
in his mind, he saw his mother- 
thinking how she once she gathered her purse,
looked around, but did not see him. 
she sobbed and cried, where are you, my son?

"son and mother, lost from each other, 
unaware who is the ghost,
both silently crying into that trophy"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do visit One Stop Poetry, Magpie Tales and We Write Poems

glittering gloom

on a gloomy and windy day
I need an apprentice
(for what you may ask)
someone has to
paint stars in to the gloom, 
fill it with glitters;
rewind the wind
to let it flow above
so as to reach the sky
and make it peerless

"I will towel the ground,
let that stranger watch me,
little knowing he is my apprentice"

inferno

I was calm
amidst the hissing sound
"pardon me," said Tom T. Urkee,
my nearest neighbor,
"I could only save this journal."
"thanks, that is all I need,"
I said.

claustrophobia

the train enters that tunnel
I expect it to grab me
my ears ring with muffled sound

in dimmed light
shadows become apparitions when
the train enters that tunnel

coldness seeps into me
inaudible movement scares me
I expect it to grab me

daylight becomes night
each sound resonates
my ears ring with muffled sound
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Cascade Poem is like this:
1st Stanza: line 1, line 2, line 3
2nd Stanza: line a, line b, repeat line 1
3rd Stanza: line c, line d, repeat line 2
4th Stanza: line e, line f, repeat line 3

intriguing walls

at midnight, I hear
a latch fall open
in an attic closet, and then
a profound silence

dark stucco of low clouds
clutch the sky

a branch falls into the street.

a snail travels up a tree-
a long happy journey.
a little water drips with delight

from a tap in the park nearby

I look at the changing walls

stories hidden there intrigue me

"reflections of such proportions 

are more important than sleep"

foregone and forgotten

night hour makes a mockery
of forgotten wisdom
resident death within life
is an ancient inevitability
(we forget that in the quest of immortality)
I pour divine wine
into a receptacle of floating waves
know this.... 
In my younger and more vulnerable years
I also gave my blood
which mingled with the earth

"violet of violence somehow fills the void"

echoing parenthesis

parenthesis meets its match
in apostrophe
I listen to echoes. 

after a drab October, 
the early November sunshine 
cast golden rays on comma

another absurdity

echoed sky

grey pearls;
unevenly hued
un-rounded
hold my ethnic pendant;
the monkey God sleeps serenely
when he awakes
he will fly through the thick clouds
pluck through the echoed air-
get me the scented sky

I will cherish it, 
also the blue background
to show the true me to myself

 "totally absurd ideas suddenly make sense"

electronically yours

tiny electrons,
arrayed into words- 
jump into my page

I play around with them
the fire reaches out
melting me immediately

a seed, fruition
at its fringe-
is a gesture no more

inside walls of my skull
tackle a patchy tattoo
myriads of treasure

"tiny electrons enthrall me, always" 

certainity of the uncertainity

I see the remains

in the aftermath of the event
she was but all limbs

behind the yellow track.

no, stop no passengers

they are travelling 

with uncertainty,

different entities,

varied needs 

related to each other by motion.

coming back to these remains,

I look again disjointly thinking

that it guarantees to bequeath sight

to someone unknown.

"death, despite its enormity, can also heal someone"

nothingness

pause gives me
so much pain
I try to engulf it
but it spills,
enters the cores
and the pores
I can deal with anger
numbness scares me

"leaving me with nothing"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Again I needed to write here that not all I pen is a personal reflection. Please do bear that in mind while reading and commenting. Remember, poets/writers have very vivid imaginations and have the insight for empathy too. You will agree with that if you are either or both. However, many a times we forget the distinction and presume and assume.

embracing weeds

I saw the message in the sky
arrived as soon as I could

weeds embraced her lovingly
ignoring her raucous breathing

her closed eyes were strung together
(I wanted those to open and look at me)

I took a blanket, covered her carefully
although I knew it was a lost cause

it was the 11th Anniversary of 10th day
of I don't recall what (wait while I think)

she obviously had forgotten it too
or I wouldn't have found her in water

I had been anticipating to meet her 
those words had already formed in my mind

"do you remember what we promised when we met...?
certainly not your inevitable death "

charcoal shadows

just a drawing
charcoal on a piece of paper
a butterfly flits over hills
that spider calls out to me
into its parlour

the lovers that we are
together we make shadows

oblivious to the fact 

we have been immortalized

in this yellowed paper

"when the rooster enters it,
I almost resent its presence
what does he see that I can't"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"together we made shadows" is the line contributed by Mallery. I changed made to make.

panorama

intoxicated
I sway into the circle
bending that crooked arc

green lattice eyes
deflect the sun
gravitate towards me

kernels of truth
abruptly try to escape
but I catch them from space

I wield a camera
and my panorama
is psychedelic

bits and pieces

if you check through carefully
you will find scattered pieces
all over your house.
they belong to me
a tarnished coin
(you had picked it for me from a roadside)
a roll of scotch tape
(almost finished),
a tiny pair of scissors
(you clipped your nails with that)
half finished bar of soap
(that lavender scent drove you crazy)
a chipped mug with my zodiac sign
(Aries love the Ram!)
torn piece of a tissue with my poetry
(a mushy love poetry, I cringe I wrote that)

"I want those all, along with the chunk of me
that you never realized you had"