Mrs Sharma is looking busy
Walking back from her yoga class
In Her right hand a bag full of potatoes
In her left hand, 2 kilos of onions
Its a freaking hot day in Delhi,
She stopped a taxi and hurried home
Aloo paratha her family's menu for today.
At home she went straight to her kitchen
Peeled and boiled the Potatoes
finely chopped Onion, coriander, ginger and chillies
Now where is the garam masala?
Here you are Mrs Sharma,
Salt Red Chili powder, Garam masala and some butter
Aloo Paratha with lots of butter,YUM YUM
Lunching at Sharma's home is Splendid
better than Mahesh Lunch Home in Juhu, Andheri.
Let's get started says Mrs Sharma
Let's make the dough
Make two chapati
add the filling to one chapati
and cover it with the second one.
Now Mrs Sharma rolls it slightly and heats it in the oven...
Let's ask Mrs Sharma,
Is food the elixir of life?
Yes very much she said
She feels like she is living for it.
As she spreads butter over the paratha
She says her mantra twice,
Eat healthy but don’t over eat.
She serves aloo paratha hot to her smiling kids
adds yoghurt to Mr Sharma's plate
she is so proud when she says to her family
Eat in moderation and eat healthy..
Smile and let's eat paratha Mrs Sharma's way...
Take a back seat and listen!
Feigned love, respect, consideration
Base characteristics
rendered false.
Commitment, dedication to other’s family
an empty wallet.
The promise of my own family
lost.
Not once, but twice
My innermost being
Gone.
I’ve been in the backseat for way too long.
I’ll even ride shotgun.
‘Pro Rege, Pro Patria,’ you tell me with wistful smile creasing sad eyes.
I squint up with narrowed lids,
Trying to push scepticism aside as my sight traces the words carved into the stone.
‘Pro Rege, Pro Patria.’
I can barely contain my scoffing.
But I do, because as ridiculous as I find it that we are claiming these men
actually died for
Something,
I would never dream of disrespecting them.
In fact, in my eyes,
They are the kings,
The noblemen,
The deities.
They deserve
More
Than the riches of their wildest imaginings.
They deserve
A family,
A beating heart,
A silver-lined
Life.
They are worth more
Than a fancy inscription
On a grey headstone.
And some didn’t even get that.
Consider this, though:
What use is a fancy inscription when you’re a pile of bones under the ground?
We can only hope that there is a
Heaven.
That they are living like
Kings.
That their divine lives are
Silver-lined.
That they can’t see how little has changed,
Because that is, I think, the saddest thing of all.
I look up again,
At the clouds sweeping across the sky.
It was then that I thought:
Just as
The clouds keep moving,
The Earth keeps turning.
And
Just as
The Earth keeps turning,
Humans will never stop fighting.
That’s why
I can’t help but scorn those words.
‘Pro Rege, Pro Patria,’ you tell me with wistful smile creasing sad eyes.
And that’s why I cry:
Because I know better.
by Jonathan D Maraccini
When I was young I had a dream
It was the day I turned 14
I was a king who married a queen underneath a beautiful cedar tree
In this dream we had a beautiful baby then we lived happily ever after
What a perfect ending, everything was perfect it seemed
Then tragedy struck without warning
In this dream
I lost my home, my wife, my child
In this dream
I lost my wonderful family
With tears of sorrow I screamed underneath the cedar tree
Then I fell to the ground and said some horrible things in the darkness
But it was all just a dream I remind you
At least that is what I was told that night
The day I turned 14
They say
Dreams are not real in the world we live in
They say
Angels are fiction outside of religion
They say
A sinner is condemned unless forgiven
I say
Dream of angels who forgive our sins
I am not a little boy any longer
I grew up and became a man
Then I met a beautiful women
How she made me happy then
So we married and had a daughter
The happiest day of my life
Was the day I became a father
A bond had formed as I watched her eyes
I held her close to keep her warm
I knew I would never leave her
Life was a perfect delight
Or so I thought, or so I thought
In the end
We leave our mark
In the end someones the victim
A fool from the very start
Like lambs for the slaughter
As the truth is hidden
They say
Dreams are not real in the world we live in
They say
Angels are fiction outside of religion
They say
A sinner is condemned unless forgiven
I say
Dream of angels who forgive our sins
Sitting on a bench in a redwood forest
I heard a bird sing a glorious song
This was not my imagination
So I began to sing along
Next to me a girl with black hair
We laughed together
We walked together
Love of the forest we both shared
Her eyes were black, her hair was long
Such a spectacle
Nothing on earth could ever go wrong
Or so I hoped, or so I hoped
Knock on wood
For I was blind
Evil was there the entire time
Sitting underneath a cedar tree
Whistling a haunting song
They say
Dreams are not real in the world we live in
They say
Angels are fiction outside of religion
They say
A sinner is condemned unless forgiven
I say
Dream of angels who forgive our sins
Eventually she left me
She left me on Christmas Eve
She took my daughter
She took the angel from me
She ran away
She spread her wings of deceit
She lied to everybody
But first she lied to me
Maybe she was the one whistling
Underneath the cedar tree
Underneath the cedar tree
Where evil withered the leaves
So now I hate her
The destroyer of beautiful dreams
The filthy liar
The wrecker of families
As I wither away behind her
I’m left with only my words
With the cedar tree on fire
I quench my angry thirst
And my pain becomes a curse
I do not care who see's these words
My anger festers for all
Two faced liars in a family herd
So stand in line as I fall
It is what it is
When it is understood
It is all it has been
For the bad and the good
As I hang on this cross
As I hang underneath the cedar tree
Crucified to this wood
© JDMaraccini
VAPORSiX CREATiONS
I'm getting older, you can see it in my eyes.
It's been breaking me and faking me, this wonderful terrible life.
I wonder what it's like to live in a happy home?
To know when you cry, you'll never cry alone.
Never walk out the door without a hand to hold.
To have family love you and treat you like so.
But I've never been so lucky, except for my younger days.
But when I grew older, something so suddenly changed.
Her words became harsh and daddy's never home.
I prayed real hard at night for some savior to intervene.
But no matter how many tears would come, no one came to me.
I envisioned a handsome man, bold, strong and sweet.
To come to me in whispers and bend down on one knee.
Tell me not to fear, his job was to protect.
My heart & my life. No they'd never feel neglect.
To fight the tears back from my eyes.
When my strength was all but gone.
I'm almost twenty now.
Still hoping for a change.
I've found a man, bold, strong and sweet.
I swore it'd make it all better, if he stood next to me.
But no matter who is there, no one can slay the demons related to me.
The smell of whiskey was still on your breath,
I was scarcely an adult, eighteen
How could this world be so mean?
Our relationship had the taste of death.
I prayed to G-d this would end tonight,
Mostly likely in yet another fight
No place to stay or family to turn to,
You held the key to my existence here.
This is the haunting fact that I fear
And in your drunken rage you see right through
Me, this is the last time I will feel
The sting of your hand,
then a flash of steel
The end of your life but the start of mine.
The crimson blotch coming from your chest
Was my freedom, from that moment the rest
Would be mine to take, I knew I would be fine.
Quickly I hold my breath and walk away
For the last time, it was now your turn to decay
I met my one, Total dud.
Girlfriends, they come and go.
Lies, Manipulations, Fakes.
A few friends, even more so.
Family then? Disapproval.
Hatred, Fights, Anger.
My Soul Mate? My other Half?
Abandoned. I do miss her...
So what's left? Who's here?
No one but my shadow today.
Always with me, Truly loyal,
S'okay, I don't need others anyway...
At least it won't judge me,
Tell me I'm not good enough.
Won't manipulate or Use me.
Won't mind if I'm not that tough.
It's a bit lonely with him though.
He's not a very talkative guy.
I'd lose what's left of my mind,
If he's all I'll have till I die.
So maybe I'll be more open.
Stop dwelling on being screwed.
Maybe meet someone new, Decent,
That might improve this foul mood.
Four years ago I was taken in
By a kind and loving family.
We laughed, cried,
Sang and danced;
I became a man.
Each year I've watched
As brothers and sisters
Flew from the nest,
Left with kind warms
Leaving behind a legacy.
In four years
We've adopted and gained
New kinsman,
And we've grown close.
I've learned a lot in four years,
About interacting with people,
Being a friend,
A mentor and
A student;
I've learned about myself.
And now,
Four years comes to an end:
My story is closing,
But the show must go on.
As I pass on this torch,
My greatest wish
Is that my friends keep the club,
Our family,
That they make this place
A home for all.
Good luck out there,
Enjoy each other's company,
And break a leg
My brothers and sisters;
I love you
My Friends.
At twenty seven I drove much more
recklessly than my eighteen year old
self would ever have done
my husband says I stopped singing
around twenty three
the words that would careen out of my mouth
like his little songbird
made beautiful from years of practise and
patience
slowly dimmed and then eventually altogether
faded as the notes I sang were
replaced by cigarettes in my mouth
and headaches from the shift of high school choir
to my career as a technician
At twenty seven, all my dreams
of activism had fled
when I was eighteen I swore to change
the world, but at twenty seven I
could only stare at my sister's family
and wish I had taken one up of my own.
At twenty seven, the smiles and laughter
had fled from my face, despite
being fully visible in every picture of me
at age eighteen.
At twenty seven, I had grown up.
At eighteen, I was still young.
The American Vision of Abraham Lincoln
AT THIS MOMENT
At this moment
Resting in the comfort of the statue
Of the 16th president of the United States
Missing
An equally impressive representation
Of his friend and advisor
Frederick Douglass
We come
On this day
Recalling the difficult and divisive war
We are compelled
With a prayer in the name
Of those captured and enslaved
Who with heart and mind
Cleared the wilderness
Raised crops
Brought forth families
Submitted their souls
Before a merciful and great God
To acknowledge that The Civil War
Was fought not to free the enslaved
For they knew they were free
But to free the nation
From a terrible cancer eating at our hearts
At this moment
In which we are embarrassed
By the Governor of our fifth largest state
Who appoints a man to the United States Senate
To which both he and his minion agree:
The Letter of the Law
Is more important than
The Spirit of the Law
Now
When we are dismayed that the accidental
Governor of the Empire State can find
Just one more reason to rain pain
And rejection on a family that has offered only
Grace and graciousness
After two hundred years
When we rejoice that another son
Of the Midwest has offered himself
His wife and his two precious daughters
To show us a better way
We gather
In recognition and understanding
That today is always and forever today
Allowing us to offer this plea
For light
And truth
And Goodness
Forgiving as we are forgiven
Being neither tempted nor intolerant of those who are
We come
At this moment
To renew and refurbish
The American vision
Of Abraham Lincoln
©Nikki Giovanni 2009
12 February 2009
