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Kuzhur Wilson Dec 2015
Yesterday
Was in the ecstasy
Of realizing that
We were
Those two
On earth
Who liked bitter gourd curry
Cooked with coconut milk ….

Remember?
Think it was
In the sixth life.
We were
Two nascent bitter guards
On the pandal
Spread in the northern corner
Of the farmland
Belonging to a grandmother
In a village in Mississippi
Who used to attend to the orchards
Sitting in a wheelchair.

We had
Watched earth
And peeked
At the sky
Hanging from the same stalk
The scar left
From your tight clasp on my thigh
Scared
After spotting a double tailed pest
Is still there.

The pleasure of that pain
Makes me tearful now.

I am like the faces
In the house of deceased
Sobbing
At times  
Bursting into tears
The next moment
Holding back
After a while.

Sometimes
I am all the faces
In the house of the dead
Tears have
Nothing to do with them.

Sometimes
The wedding house
Will laugh and laugh
Till its cheeks hurt.

Just like you.

My dear bitter guard,
When will we
Go back to that
Pandal in Mississippi
Where we had pulsated
From a single stalk?

Aren’t we the ones
To offer obsequies
To that grandmother
Who looked after us
With pots
Of wholehearted love?



Translator - Shyma P


Shyma P : Works in Payyanur College, Payyanur. Translator and film critic. Has translated poems and articles in Malayalam Literary Survey, The Oxford India Anthology of Malayalam Dalit Literature, online magazines like Gulmohar, Readleaf Poetry as well as scripts and subtitles for short films.
Pandal - natural roof made by plants
Àŧùl Dec 2015
The king had a terrific ***,
The *** ran a race & won it!

The media glorified it and put,
'The King's *** Won The Race!'

The king felt embarrassed,
He gave his *** to the queen.

The media again hyped it and put,
'A Royal Exchange: The Queen Has The Best *** In The Kingdom!'

The royal family felt frustrated & flustered,
They decided to do away with the *** now.

The Queen's ***, which earlier was the King's *** was abandoned in the forest,
The royalty felt at ease now.

But the media hyped it too!
*THE ROYAL *** GOES WILD!!!
Inspired from a Whatscrap joke I received.

A King enrolled his donkey in a race & won.

Local paper read:
'KING's *** WON'

The king was so upset with this kind of publicity that he gave the donkey to the queen.

The local paper then read:
"QUEEN HAS THE BEST *** IN TOWN"
The king fainted....

Queen sold the donkey to a farmer for Rs100.

Next day paper read: "QUEEN SELLS HER *** FOR Rs100"
The queen fainted...

The next day king ordered the queen
to buy back the donkey and leave it in jungle.

The Next Headlines:
"QUEEN ANNOUNCES HER *** IS FREE & WILD"
The king died... !!

This was Indian media in Britain, you know better.

My HP Poem #932
©Atul Kaushal
Sonia Thomas Dec 2015
Here's the thing--
I don't like to lie.
So, if you asked me where I am from,
I'd have to assess you and your prejudices before announcing in a single breath --

"I am a Malayali from Bombay raised in Saudi Arabia."

My identity comes in as a triple threat.
And people treat me like an escaped convict
"Oh, how many burqas do you own?"
"Four, and they're still not enough to save me from your ridiculous questions."

I don't like to lie.
So, I'll tell you I've had a terrible day
and the best thing that happened to me today was lunch.

I will voluntarily admit that my feet hurt in those shoes
And I'd rather be at home.
But, my pen refused to stop writing.

I choose not to wrap my truths in acceptability
Because my identity does not need to be graded
(not like I deserve less than an A+)
I decided to let my bottom sit on a throne in my own mind
Rather than at the feet of self-proclaimed lords of the universe
I'll fix my sights on what's here today.

I'm a queen of my own will;
Of shoes that fit
and jeans that never will.

I am also confused and I write to confuse some more.
Maybe I'll just wrap myself in words
And hand myself over to you and say --
"Congrats! It's a story."
A version of this was first performed live at The Hive in Mumbai on the 2nd August, 2015 and later published here - https://existentialcrisisalert.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/day-37-one-fear-at-a-time/
Kenshō Oct 2015
High on Hawk Hill, where ancestors of past had danced and chanted tunes of yore. Sat a modern man, dressed in illusion and bold in his character. He was of a consuming nation, and regretted that, but what
could be left behind here at these healing mountains not even the local bellman would speak.

So the modern man and a group of individuals all from distinct cultural groups waded down and through the rivers. Dis-clothed, they would look each other in the eyes. The clouds would hang like lily pads of atmospheric magnitude over head the stage of man, waiting, smiling, wondering. Bathing and cleansing, the beings would draw steam to the heavens from their radiating bodies. Rinsing with the herbal perfumes and seasoned smells, they would dress in flowers and beauty. Long dryad hair wore the women of druidism. Feathers and clothes draped from tribal piercings and exuberant head wear.

They stood wooden spires over peering exceptional mountain ranges which held the coves and nests of spirits. Something deep was within the Raven's Caw or the magic that the deer's leg print led to.

Piercing the corrugated peaked ridges laid within winding and glistening river banks which brought leagues of fresh fish to the bay peoples. Poking from root-stock, the medium mammals would bore warm dens with fresh nuts and berries to feed. The red gloaming sun would reign overhead when bellies were full and out would the children play. Songs were crooned throughout the lands and together the creatures of the bush would wander to join. And when the sun would squint its last ray and the darkness kissed the land with hovering summer warmth. Something ancient would hold the stillness.

Across those gigantic ranges was the spirit of nostalgic history. A thudding would be announced like the marching of a great ocean of ones forgotten. Bounds of diverse souls and spirits colored of rainbows from differences would pour and not even the most contemporary and constricted could argue the depth of beauty of these myriad mixed marching souls.

Curls of vapor rose like dancing spirits from the hearth of camp. T'was a nightly ritual that invoked the spirits of ages. For one man locked in trance to envision the union of souls, no matter immense diversity. Songs would project from those hollow vocal cords of ghosts harmonized and jiving. Limbs of smoke would wrap around the enchanted man, lifting him to realm of the immaterial. Those disembodied chants and drumming of old seemed to converge as the
man was dislodged from a heavy body. What was left was a golden hum of unison, floating, floating.

Hovering light like a cloud of non-density, buoyant in a space which seemed to have no points of reference. Simple and overwhelming was a warm and ecstatic hum of bliss that enveloped what should have been his body like thin silk robes woven of divinity. Laced in caressing arms he would drift slowly and softly back to a solid and still world of night. Exemplified darkness would circle a single dim lit fire, almost gone out.

Those drawing off hums would change tone and become the snoring of lovely plump women and young children cuddled. All of energy which once was exercised, was left but just a simmering coal of fire and pipe.
The smoke curled once more from the feather dressed man's nose, seeming a dragon in the night.

Tired would the night drift along into those colored dreams. Smoothly, the hills would rise and awaken into a purple, crisp morning bounding with birds. Squirrels would perch and nibble. Winds would brush glittering  glades. Hushed but ever known would the spirits rest in their eternal vaults..
A ritual dream
Àŧùl Aug 2015
It is a boon for me.

Lost I have nothing,
Of you I think highly,
Variety I have seen,
Even more remains.

You are the divine Angel,
Our dreams being nurtured,
U**ntold stories of our love.

Loving you is my independence.
My HP Poem #897
©Atul Kaushal
The Tinkerer Jul 2015
Once lost,
Never regained.
Once lost,
Overwhelming, the pain.
Passed on,
He's passed away.
Never forgot,
Never forgotten, the name.
Never lost,
The visions, the claims.
Never lost,
Your Legacy remains.
Your Legacy, we celebrate.

The man who moved a nation,
With the courage of the heart, and
*The might of the mind.
To Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam.
From one of the 1.8 billion proud Indians.
May your soul rest well, may your light shine on.
Àŧùl Jun 2015
Ah, so kind and so cute,
The loyal and so beautiful,
Uninteresting and engaging,
L**oving perpetually & timelessly.
My HP Poem #882
©Atul Kaushal
M S Mar 2015
Damsel in distress
but in Indian streets.
Look how she walks
and, look how she speaks
she takes too much pride in her being
she's asking for it, isn't it?
Look how she talks- her hands fluttering
Look how she weeps now
Her hands quivering.
In memory of all the lives lost to monstrosities which are more common than you'd think.
JAFAR SADIK Jan 2015
Red ants
of unsettled feuds
ail in my cerebrum
and spinal cord…
dear friend,
give me the medicine
of poetry,
let get my blood cold…
Spread the sedative
of poem
before taking me the knife.
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