Reverie...

Come to me

When the sand dunes dance

To the music of the stars....

And I shall leave whispers in the wind....

Written in sand,

That will graze your lips

Before they melt again

To become one with the Earth....

And the night

Shall raise her curtains...

Won't you take

The center stage?

Will I, then break

Our unspoken chains?

And bring to life

A nascent you

Born out of my colourless dreams?

For the songs of silence

Beckon my delight

As you resurface

From your fathomless slumber....

While I take in

With each breath

The musings of the sky....

Lost in the rhythm

Of this serendipitous number....

Cups of Clay...

Bubbling tea

Ginger laced steam

Tingling nerves

Innocent smile

Cups of clay...

I ask

Where is it?

 Your piece of celebration?

Shy laughter

Crinkling crowfeet

I melt it

She says

And sell it to you

In these cups of clay...

Limitless riches

Blown in moments

Aimless glitter

My celebration

Endless nights

Relentless labour

A bag full of coins

Hers.

All of it

She drains down

In those little cups of clay...

Bokeh...

As the embers of my last cigarette

Are quietened by the wind

I look through the mist

Of nicotine ghosts....

A world cluttered with hexagons

The lives and the lifeless

All in one frame....

Like chips of coloured glass

In a playful kaleidoscope....

While my hung up mind

Chooses to surrender....

To the balmy peace

Of a consummated moon....

The wilderness sways

In my silent adoration

Of one scar- less instance

That man has failed to molest....

And I’m one

With her presence....

Whether it is her beckoning

Or a drugged nerve wreck

I know not.....

For now, I decide

To blindfold my being

In her tender embrace...

And brush off the shreds

Of worldly affliction....

To carve out the essence

Of those fathomless bokehs....

I'm Okay...

Every morning

I frame my vision

In the demon- like mirror

Through the sun bathed picture

Of a normal girl

I see me and my skin

Through the stencils of convention

I touch me

And I rub my face

I reassemble my hair

And wash myself

Over and over

Till the softness of fabric

Burns against my skin

Do I look any better?

I don’t know

A dab of smelly substances

That claim to transport me

To larger than life posters

I had smeared heavily

Before a hunger- troubled slumber

Blissfully hoping

It would overcome

All my inlaid insecurities

Overnight

But of course

Magic is cooked up

In cauldrons of imagination

I walk out of the door

Tugging at my clothes

With inherent discomfort

Because this angle

And that fold

Makes my facade

......Acceptable

And yet I don’t spare

A single rear view mirror

Or a glass pane

Or even the darkened windows of cars

To reassure that nagging voice

That bullies me in my head

And every time I walk past

Those pretty boots

On skinny legs

Those sleazy skirts

That audacious dress

I tuck my tummy in

And for those few blissful moments

With reality withdrawn

And my skin pulled tight

I replicate every plastic smile

And answer every hollow greeting

With an empty, evasive

“I’m okay”...

On woman's day

To every woman who has a body image issue...

Soliloquy...

You glisten upon me
Like you hold some secrets...
Entrapped in your cape
That spans across and above.....
Thousands of bits
Of human illumination.....
I know there is more
Beyond the tiresome bindings
Of these vagaries of life......
Yet to look beyond the frames
Of the trained imagination
That we name the "future"....
Is a feat I cant seem to contain
Within my limits....
Perhaps then, your smile
Is all I have.....
To depend on
And know, that somewhere....
You hide someone....
Who will sketch it all out
Before me....
Till then, I content myself
To the confines
Of my random soliloquy....

I desire to call you Life...

Your laughter in my mind,
A soft caress....
Like a conspiracy of the winds,
Leans close....
And whispers
A few unspoken words that beckon,
And tug at the Me
Within me....
Someone I seemed to have lost...
I see her again
In you....
Come closer still
There are crumbs of love stolen
That hide in your sunshine....
Which I wish to take in.....
Your infectious smell
Tempts my soul,
To dive into those unfathomable depths
I feared looking into.....
Love is walking up to me
Slowly, with padded feet....
And I'm already immersed
You drown me, you misted illusion
And I desire to call you Life.....



Thank you ZNMD...Maaz Kazmi...
My inspirations....

Dreamland City

I look beyond the window frame

And the one that binds my mind...

Into a world unearthed

Like the ones fairy tales assure...

No white horses though,

Or princes in armor...

Just the same old sun

In a childlike avatar

Hiding its face

Behind unsuspecting ravines

Enticing me into a story

That many leave untold...

Of the life beneath,

The rubble and the poor

A tale that I wish

Was never ignored....

Man plays his dirty games

Yet this is one land,

He failed to foil....

Where crows too

Have a song of their own...

And the golden grains of life

Are willing to brave the world...

This generous giving of nature

I take in, and as I see

I'd like to call this

My Dreamland city...

[Dedicated to the scenic ravines of 

Madhya Pradesh,which many condemn...

And the random signboard

that rightly said "Dreamland City"]