I follow your eyes,

As a traveler follows his compass;

Cruising through the tides

Searching for the enormous.

He began the journey,

Thanks to his wanderlust,

Mine, chanced on being scorny…

I count on being the last!

Twists and turns adorned the track,

I scolded them

As my thoughts went scavenging a snack

Right on the hem.

She boasted her 120kmphs,

I could only smile.

Didn’t she see me at all?

Where I was all this while!

They sprang from both sides,

Adoring her fair

How could she even see through,

The symmetry worth a care!

You caught the wind,

As a kite fluttering, does

Eyes closed, lashes twined,

You smile contagious!

Careless you were,

As I asked for the plan,

Grooving in slow motion,

Ignoring even a sun-tan…

Now I wonder if

The windows are open,

My thoughts are shy, they can’t shout

Wanting to collide with yours out!

You went out,

Telling me to imagine,

Since, my pen’s been my spoon…

Even as I went on to dine.

Someday I will drive,

Or just stare at you, driving,

Unless you have your lovelocks

For your face-hiding!

And sing to each other,

Some songs as rhymes,

Check out on the trees afar

If even a single bird thrives.

Eat terrible food,

Feeling them to be tastier,

Laugh quite like insanes,

Hoping to feel hungrier.

Unending roads with us meeting,

Breaking into a jig

Again and again, as

Mirth and joy go on knitting.

Light or dark,

I really don’t care,

Go out with whosoever,

But won’t you stay true to me, dear?

I attempt to quiet my mind,

Caring not to look behind,

I promise, imaginations won’t be a hype

For, you are the roadtrip of my life…

Green and black striped cardigan she wore, my gaze rose as she began to talk,
To me her name was still unknown but I befriended her curvy lovelock.

In class she was a gift to my sight, elegant plaits with her complexion being bright,
Some incredible day she held my hand right and said out loud, "I like your watch, the one which is white."

From that moment on a journey began,
Young and immature with fictional plans,
Clashes we had but I still remained her fan,
Because forgetting her is something I never can.

She's not here, but she never left,
Stole my emotional front yet I can't charge for theft,
Because any girl might claim these lines written above,
But I wrote this message for the only one I love.

Black jumper and red skirt she wore,
My gaze rose as she began to talk,
To me her name was more than her own, oh I'm so in love with her curvy lovelock.❤️

-Utkarsh Upadhyay

God does magic in French
So it says on the board
The board, the black, black board
Chalk line shoesox shinebox
Cat tracks on the hot hood
Graphite gluesticks
Musty lovelocks
Jah Rasta dreadlox
God does magic in French!

Broken mood-rings on your bedside table
Cat tracks on your porcelain plates, black side up
Sunny eggs, eat 'em cold, fried green tomatoes
Sometimes waking up blows, hard, grass in the yard
Do the bugs feel it when you run the lawnmower?
Self conscious shell shock, trauma from swung padlocks
A cluster of lovelocks, held loosely
A bouquet of broke tooth smiles, grin back, be choosy
Holding each others lives loosely, why give a ****
Being picked up and slammed by the tides of tears, refugee fears
Just another proletariat in a shuffleboard life
Grief and strife, a taste of all these bitter things we seek
How much weight do you lose being a corpse for a week?
Silver, sleek, something turning in the hands of the meek
Like a knife or olive leaf, I'm not one to critique, just let me speak
Please, just for once

Lovestones, lovelocks, lodesoul
Do it right, numbskull
Pinky length pencil fingers
to write this with
Another rosy day
in the ward
Coo-koo coo-koo

Gales of hammers and grass

Eyes on the snackbox

Lackluster lovelocks

Highsocks

The way it feels to extinguish a candle

in the middle of the day

can you even

feel the

absence

The smoke trails come back like full sails and red skies for a sailors suprise

The child chokes and cries in a bombed out building in Hodeidah,

ribs like scars on her chest

Eyes bulging, flies circling, the vultures have come, the birds have

come to roost

A beleaguered cry, Spartans die at spear point, the blood of Tsirhc

anoints, reading prayers sideways

I am ripped open, seeing it go like this

I am torn asunder, the state of things

Find me in the pine, find me in the needles, buried nose deep

in dirt

Trying to find the cat tracks around the saplings