By Kuzhur Wilson ( in Malayalam)
(trans from Malayalam by  Ra Sh)


Varghese has no home.

Holes up where he works.

Jesus’s own man.

Big rosary around his neck.

And a matching wooden cross.

He gardens around the yard

On days of leisure.


Holds a deep grudge

Against the trees around.

Doomed are they the moment

His eyes settle on them.


Asked him once whether

His rancor was because

Jesus was nailed on wood.

Or, was it the wheezing

the Acacia trees caused?

Or, was it the itchy worms

from the soft wood trees?

He said time and again

‘Brother, I love the trees

More than you love them.’


Have seen many times

The birds from the trees

Chopped down by Varghese

Looking for their nests.


Clearing the bushes along

The road to the office was

Varghese’s job for the day.


When I went out for a smoke

Glowing was he about

the way the place now gleamed.


Midnight, after work,

Was driving along the path

Shorn clean by Varghese.


In the blaze of the headlight

A hare dashed frantically

Looking for its bush.

Dog Day I
By Ra Sh


Dogs make great lovers.

They are tail waggers and flag wavers

who never forget you. They always start

from where they finished last

restoring the session.

Memories of love are imprinted on them

like in flash sticks.

They never fail you and are tireless

and have yelping tongues that flare up

to kiss your face unlike damp humans.

Dogs don't ****.

A dog doesn't ride you unless you offer yourself to him.

Most important,

they hold you in a vice like two-hoots-for-the-world grip.

When loving, they call out in ecstasy

such endearing terms like oh my queen and oh my *****!

Calling you even a ****, sending you crashing over the precipice.

And, in love throes, they send a knot deep into you,

fulfilling you.

And, if you send a knot deep into them,

you are hooked for life,

never to disentangle

even when gods pelt stones.