a talkative beast

spewing half truths

and half lies

confident as the kid

in your class who

always raised his hand

to mouth

the wrong answer



a kettle on the boil

whistling absurdities

shrill as

a woman who

has waited an hour

at the rusty tap

with a blue plastic bucket

to find the last drop

trickle away



a menagerie of vultures

salivating in unison

at moist corpses

in the street and

swooping on the dead

for a quote

like eager students

waiting for exam results

to be plastered

on the notice board



a mercurial mistress

who breaks

a different bed everyday

for limp men desiring

a high-decibel

performance for

a two paisa act

culminating

in a contrived

******



an electronically enabled

carrion crew

reducing pillage

to inches of column

on newsprint

a veritable feast

isn’t it

with Marie biscuits

and steaming tea



there is no escaping

this monster

of many heads

and one tongue

for it whispers

a worldview

its gait

insidious and stealthy

as it pounces

on sheep who

then bleat

its platitudes

as the truth

and nothing but

the truth