i washed a lot of dishes at work today
my hands are raw and red
and my fingers have a lot of small cuts

but i’m happy
because better to have
red raw hands
than red raw eyes
and better my fingers cut
than my wrists slit

This is my graduation class
and I have bunked quite a few of them.

terrifyingly I realize it has to be a long time

for I am frantically looking for the college
the home of my graduation class

and here I am groping to get my way back
asking people the way to my college!

Must be my long absence playing tricks on my memory
but that hardly makes sense.

At last I find out the iron gate

from there a narrow passage shows flight of stairs

but my class, which floor is my class?

doesn't strike me the hush
as I run up the steps

wasn't it the fourth floor?

and when I reach it gasp for breath

my graduation class looks unfamiliar
so is the head stooping under the table lamp
his specs almost falling from nose
intently gazing at something
from the maze of electrical apparatuses spread before him.

I don't recollect having ever a teacher like him

but today I don't trust my memories

too many things I have forgotten

must be the fallout of missing classes for too long

the man there in my graduation class
has to be my teacher!

He looks up as I start speaking

I'm sorry sir, being ill I've missed some classes
but I'll manage to catch up.

Then it happens

my bag swings in the air
pulled by an invisible force!

He smiles at my awed face

don't bother, you know, it's so strong
the electromagnetic field of course
such nasty pulls they make

in a flash a floodgate opens

my graduation class doesn't have a lab inside
my bag by now flying in the air is an office bag
I have no business in the college anymore

I had left my graduation class
over three decades ago!

Chilling with my crew
doing what we do
drinking some brew
not too many, just a few

We are in the bay tonight
The weather is just right
No ******* trying to fight
friends got their pipe, trees & a light

Happy girl right here
Thinking of someone makes me smile ear to ear
So get me a beer
Raise your glass & cheer

Not everything I can make into a poem
like the sky just after rain
her embroidered smile its minutest hem
in her shade of cornea a grain of pain!

Not everything I can make into a poem
like wind eddies from wings of bird
her amorous veil that stokes my flame
in her lips’ quiver the unuttered word!

Not everything I can make into a poem
like the heron’s swoosh on the moon of marsh
her endless aroma without a name
in her eyes the million stars!

Not everything I can make into a poem
like when perches the bird on nest
her flushed cheeks in love game
in her kiss the sea salt’s taste!

You would never know
By my silence
And my smile.
That I hate myself
And I hate everyone else, too.

You would never know
By the way he drinks his alcohol
Every night,
That he wakes up early every morning,
To water his daughter's memorial flowers.

You would never know
By the way she laughs at others
That she is afraid.
That one day,
She will receive the laughter.

You would never know
By the exposing clothing she wears
That when she was younger
Her stepfather
Taught her a lesson.

You would never know
By the way he bullies others
That when he goes home
His father,
Bullies him.

You would never know
Just by looking at us,
That we are all messed up.