The ringed nostril
- crimson -
shiver and drop, exhale.

Stained sink,
scarlet stream
snakes pipes.

I'm in the armpit,
the buttcrack of the Earth -
burrowing deeper during my winter months.

I echo in every child's cry.
I shudder in every pervert's glance.

Run ragged, ragged girl,
in every slap of boots on pavement,
every whiff of dying chrysanthemum.

I am the fists beating me to a pulp,
embracing every blow.

Raju, the hollow-cheeked overthinker,
Whose nose had grown into his navel,
Hanged himself in the hostel room

They found a note-
With rejected love as the cause
And then there was another note that read-
'rejected manuscripts'
A third one: 'to join my dead Appa'
Still another, in bold, etched letters:
'The fatal accident', and another-
Wedged in his buttcrack:
'the repressive education system' and 'the procrustean examinations'

Could it be that all of them were true motives or-
Did they represent a steady progress in the search for one?
A case of as many notes for as many selves
Or did he mean it as a puzzle, as his friends conveniently took it for, to weigh the notes and find the best?

Let's show some flesh,
Some treats here, no ******* please!
Cover that crotch, O.K!
A little buttcrack will be fine;

It's a crazier world,
To get attention, go all out,
To break the superhighway,
Bring on the whole nine!