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So, you've read my poetry?
You've skimmed the lines and picked out words you think are pretty,
delicate, intelligent, or odd?
You understand me now, I see!
I'm yours to dissect, pick at, ****,
but never keep, of course not that.

Yes you've read my poetry,
but did you know I sometimes cross my l's as t's and often wish
to travel far and far alone.
Alone: myself and only me.
I'd adventure, danger-prone;
You would only slow me down.

So what if sometimes late at night I want to dance on balconies and feel your breath upon my ear?
That really doesn't matter
for I don't need you, and you don't want me,
even though you've read my poetry.
This late hour, when
I empty myself of all experience,
you shine alone
like a pillar at the center of my being.
You arrive like a shadow at night:
silent spring of love, you flood my being like
moonlight flooding the room in darkness;
Silent snow of the drowsy noon,
you cover all my wayward tracks
and I see only your benevolent
steps guiding me on
from the door of my solitary home.
You are the lighthouse to my soul
lost at the high seas of life;
I live by your banks and draw pitcher-fulls,
Señora, you animate every love
that nourishes me.
To the immortal love that nourishes us.
using the ink of experience means
leaning on what is known
building on what has been done before-
but what of those things
that move in the realms of the unknown?

The Inuit’s tongue speaks
A hundred words for snow
as in the midst of it
they live and grow

if that is true
for the words we speak
wouldn’t it also flow
that for the passions we most feel
our inner vocabulary is more?

for sure I’ve known
loss and pain
with morbidity had
a mild flirtation
sadness has been a bedfellow
I’ve played with jealousy
and envied greed
with vanity I often meet
I’ve been intimate with fear
fought with guilt
and broken up with anger

with love I’m best friends
happiness smiles at me
in solitude i am at my best
with mirth and joy
i search for peace
abundance and acceptance
are welcome guests
and enthusiasm brings me
the gift of zest

and so on and so forth
i’ve known them all
for better or for worse
but what of those
i know not yet
far away on some distant shore

i do not even know their names
so clueless as to their identity
can’t put a face to any of them
unaware of their personalities
strangers they are
and so will they be
until someday they find me

the only question that is left to be answered -

will I know them when we meet?

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
01.01.2013
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish
the night has spurned me
the moonlight descends
in a mockery
of tones unheard
voices whisper in my head
they float as comic bubbles
over the sleepy town
your mouth opens
in a yawn and ends
as a chasm into which I fall
the darkness is a refrigerator
freezing everything still
the whiteness of the floor
a jarring ice. I cannot
put my foot down
the silence so heavy
it drags my eyelids

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
02.01.2012
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish
Plath inspired.
Wind rushing through the open windows
It's cold but I disregard the bite in the air
The moon is hardly peaking our from behind the snow frosted woods
I can hear the faint whistle as the wind swooshes my curtains
The stars are scattered across the sky
Pulling me into a mesmerizing view
I don't know the names of the stars
Or what they mean
I only see there beauty
And that's what holds me in this spell
Utterly flawless
Burning hot in the moonlit darkness
I was born to watch the night
Hello little bird
I hear your musical song
As you dance and prance
Upon your frozen branch
A smile lit on my face
As you sing and look down on me
With a laugh I lay down in the snow
Beneath the tree that hangs low with age
Over the small barn
Peacefully I close my eyes
Oddly warm within the snows blankets
And like the sky was crying of joy
Small flakes fell and landed so gracefully upon my face
Finally at peace I fell asleep
Why can't it be a time for me to be what ever I want to be?
I want to be a rapper, a hip hop snapper, a rhythm tapper.

Why can't we rhyme all the time for a nickel or a dime, it would be sublime?
I'd rhyme love and hate, end to ****, clothes to cape, and fat free to cake.
the one who is gone
is finally at peace
beyond retribution and vengeance
it is we the living
who must carry that burden

baying for blood is not enough
building a memorial is not enough
emptier still are sorrowful words
this, now, is the time to get tough
time to show we’re made of sterner stuff

to what depth has my nation fallen
this indeed is our season of shame
but let us not dwell on what is lost
let us look at what we can raise up
let us make this change work

for you and me and for those to come
build a new nation from ground up
start now! before it is further delayed!
no more injustice must we tolerate
no more can we let ourselves stagnate

we fight in her memory
that is true
but it is a fight for all of us
from every nook and corner raise your voice
herald the revolution that must come!

-Vijayalakshmi Harish
29.12.2012
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish
For Ragini & for India!!!
The Wait:
don’t look for love in public spaces
love is shy always
hesitating she comes with flowing grace
to the patient lover
in the end all that is needed
is to look into the mirror –
in the reflection of your eyes
you’ll find her!

The First Smile:
Oh! Say not that this world is mean
do not turn your face away from me!
the lack of a smile in return
was not intended to spurn
but your smile left me so captivated
so caught up and fascinated,
that even as my heart somersaulted,
my lips forgot to smile!

Being Together:
the mist hides my secrets,
of it are born my desires
the arc of the moon expands to contain
every wish of this lovesick heart
the morning but amplifies this-
the sweetness of the night’s embrace
on sleepless pyres were burnt our passions
on winter’s breath our dreams impaled!

Inseparability:*
Love isn’t Love
until one sees
that I am You
and You are Me
so where lies the question
of coming and going
wherever you are
there I shall be!

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish
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