A gentle tempest stormed my lawn; it stood
me still and then was gone. Anchored,
awestruck in my place by beauty and euphoric
grace, I thought of Spinoza's God, infinity's
precise design, the perfect math of Everything –
our love, a quotient of Divine.

Be reckless with your words to me;
incite, provoke, use words as lips
and teeth and hands and silk restraints.
Press them deep into my skin –
leave marks, leave late, and come again.

Please, when you come, bring me news of the world –
not foreign wars or epic storms or the Queen's upcoming
Jubilee, but things that only you can tell – like this morning
smelled like mulch and mud; the slate was wet, and you thought of me.

No Garden, but this stand of
pines, and no serpents just this
side of night, but a sleepy,
startled porcupine; I'll offer you
some apple wine. You'll kiss
me in the fading light; I'll love
you without shame this time.

yodelaugh bluebells
bugle the frenchorn debate;
youngheld punchropes
in freezing cordoba rain when the
silt hits the sand we’re all
****** into oblivion like
so much candyswirl
into the labial plains of
galaxyfrost are you in sentia where
the sun don’t rain and the sky don’t
glow grey beneath the hooded lambswool grain
there ain’t no gumption like
compunction like
eating sand to feed your ****** daughters overripe
mangoes hit the cement and explode in saffronochre gutspill
when else
does the world end

gracklestare blue eats away at the
worms in my (ever notice how hearts are kind of
appleshaped and women are always
pearshaped and
muscled and coy and
bruised in the thick places you know
) eating empty roomfuls of charcoal dust and
cigarette ash motels (the numbers have
come off the nails room 80 is now
infinityoh)

can’t eat enough winegrapes so we
set aside the fidelity for another time when we’re both
drunk after all what good is a heart drenched in
only the viscous warmth of your own sweet
blood money pays for most things but not
d) all of the above

Staring at every strand of noodle in my plate
as it swirls around my fork
that's the best I can do here
with you, all of you
so pretentious you
so self obsessed you
erasing the thin line between insults and fun
you, the ever so cocksmart, you
waiting for time to pass by
one millisecond at a time
raising my spoon, slowly,
doing injustice to its destiny of fulfilling
the tongues it touches
gulp
I can feel it, whole
lowering down my throat, part by part
being pulled down, like me by you
and down it goes
while I play with the next strand around the daunting fork.

I was engrossed in falling in love with Atticus Finch all over again,
when you came and sat before me in the train
I don't know why.

Without looking up, a side glance,
I started to judge you as you arranged your stuff
White side burns, specs from the forties
A pale yellow shirt with blue stained pocket
There was something about stains from ink pens
I found hypnotic, emanating wisdom I suppose
pants inches above your feet

I pretended to stop gauging you as you settled down
You smiled at me. Why would you smile at me?
Uncomfortable silence

"You know, that is my favorite book!"
Of course it is, it's a classic
"Mine too, reading it for the fourth time."

I heard the ice between us crackling and crushing

You took your wallet out and opened it
to where your wife's black and white picture resided
"Look, this is my gorgeous wife,
I am going to meet her where we met for the first time.
I hope the train reaches on time,
she hates it when I make her wait,
military father you know!"

I smiled at your sparkling eyes
caved in between the black circles of a fatigued life

"She is very beautiful, sir."

You laughed
"Of course she is, it was love at first sight.
Why were you telling me this?
I don't believe in love
I still remember a mischievous adolescent me,
ogling at her as she walked out of her home,
I followed her till the bus stand.
Half a step into the bus, and she turned around and walked towards me,
my heart forgot about its sole purpose.
You know what she did then?"

"Smitten by your charming etiquette, she kissed you?" I grinned at my wit

"Ha, I wish! She came red faced to me,
with innocent eyes trying to show off barren anger,
and she slapped me!
I had to pretend really hard that it hurt,
but oh! those flower soft hands,
they lingered for long on my blushed cheek."

We burst out laughing over your juvenile confession
fading into a never ending smile

"Finally one day, she turned around from the bus, but just smiled,
I lived a thousand lives in that split second.
I didn't see her for months after that.
smiling at her picture you almost cried
I had decided to stand on my own feet,
so I could ask her father for her hand in marriage.
Dare she say no now,
I'd steal her from the end of the world." You winked.

I went back to my book as you gave way to sleep
Sorry Atticus, your admiration is being shared

As I got down the train, I saw you
seated at the platform on a ***** wooden bench
with rusty brown scraps falling out of the wet wood

"Weren't you going to meet your wife, sir,
do you need any help?"

"This is where I saw her for the first time,
like you were talking to yourself
when she had gotten out of a train,
I missed mine after that of course.
you chuckled and then sighed with satisfaction
Look, here she comes!
ecstasy
Sit here my love,
I missed you.
I got you the bangles you had asked for,
you know I can't say no to you.
That mascara in your eyes my dear,
you take my breath away, every time,
like you did sixty years back.
Yes, I love you too.
Meet this kid from the train, don't scold me,
I told her everything about
how you swept me off my feet.
Remember, when your father held a gun to my throat
as I asked him for your hand,
he declared he would shoot if I even shivered,
I almost wet myself!"
you grinned and ****** back on one side,
like somebody mischievously hit your arm
from thin air

No I couldn't smile this time.
I looked in to your soulful eyes one last time
and turned towards the invisible figure.
"Nice to meet you, ma'am."
And I walked away, with tears trickling down my eyes.











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