"notching" poems
269
Bound—a trouble—
And lives can bear it!
Limit—how deep a bleeding go!
So—many—drops—of vital scarlet—
Deal with the soul
As with Algebra!
Tell it the Ages—to a cypher—
And it will ache—contented—on—
Sing—at its pain—as any Workman—
Notching the fall of the Even Sun!
5.5k
I dream of drinking from the river
rushing its abundance of life
through soil beds rich
with unknowing purpose
to reach the sea & combine
with all rivers & make its long journey back
to the tops of mountains
feeding new life & making
the same journey
all over again.
This recycling of life
emanates & pours from every crack,
& every chirp of the cricket
brings a willful reassurance--a notching of time
in the constance of life.
I am here, we are here
& the world is waiting for us
to see its beauty within ourselves,
because I am that beauty & we are all that beauty
& everything we do paints the picture
with different colors, shapes & strokes
& an image of life on this planet
emerges from our collective brush.
Dec 21, 2010
Dec 21, 2010 at 10:32 PM UTC
Plant a fertile garden in summer & harvest all of the fruits and vegetables.
PIckle all of the vegetables.
preserve all of the fruits-leave some
Apples for pie.
Place pickles and preserves in the darkness of the root cellar.
Order How to ****** a Farmhand in 10 Days from the book catalogue.
Order the Art of War also just in case
Invite Handsome Jimmy Pike from the neighbouring farm over for pie.
Get Uncle Abe to cover the dirt floor with planks.
As Mama always said a frozen dirt floor is just for the dirt poor.
Bake Pie. Place on windowsill.
Waft the smell
Of hot pie over toward the woodpile where Uncle Abe is chopping wood.
Invite Jimmy to play Gin Rummy the evening when Uncle Abe is mysteriously ill of a stomach complaint and sleeping in the barn.
Show Jimmy Uncle Abe's tongue and groove method of log cabin construction.
Ask Jimmy to show me the **** and pass method of using unmilled logs to **** up against each other without notching.
Spike Jimmy's tea with ***
Show Jimmy the root cellar.
**** up against Jimmy with notching.
WITH LOTS OF NOTCHING.
Fall pregnant.
Tell Uncle Abe and have a shotgun wedding.
Bake another special pie.
Jan 29, 2016
Jan 29, 2016 at 6:28 PM UTC
(For better understanding read my poem Abhimanyu (part-1))
TRANSLATED BY KARISHMA JI (Thanks to her)
When Kurukshetra* was burning in the flames of war
God of death had opened his third eye
When the heads of men were being chopped
When Jackals were tearing apart the corpses on the ground
When blood thirsty men were waging war against themselves
When arrows notching the bow caused uncountable deaths
Goddess of war was dancing on mortal bodies
Wicked witches laughed at the loss of human lives
Laps of mothers were suddenly empty
Dust covered the parting of hair where vermilion was once applied**
The fire which raged the whole nation – Bharat
Was the great war, known as Mahabharat***
Earth was covered with blood and tears
Chariots overran the bodies of men
Warriors were trying to quench their greed
Trying to slake their bloodlust
These were the descendants of the same ancestor
Some were younger brothers and some were their elders
But brotherhood was sacrificed to statehood
Eyes shone only with passionate savagery
* Kurukshetra – name of a battlefield
** Traditionally, Hindu women apply vermilion to a parting of their hair after marriage
*** Mahabharat – an epic narrative of the battle of Kurukshetra
Jul 22, 2016
Jul 22, 2016 at 12:26 PM UTC
Younger men, much younger, wash up against me.
Sometimes desperation, sometimes belt notching.
It's not a matter of age or experience or skill.
It's the unearned arrogance and presumption that puts me off
And it has nothing to do with chronological age, either.
I don't want to be with a tally ho' of any sort. And it's not about what he can buy with money. Thoughtful generosity is quite another thing, though.
I want...I want...someone who's been hurt, who's experienced loss and reeled under it, lived through it and who has survived and thrived.
Who is both softer and harder for it. Who has compassion for and expectations of me. Who can be harsh and tender with me.
And me no less for him.
//
What is physical attractiveness, anyway?
It's not conventional, plastic perfection. You cling to that fallacy, you lose.
Sometimes, I am toppled into vulnerability by the shape of his mouth, the feel of his cheek when I touch, the way light or emotion moves in his eyes, his voice when he is on the phone for work, the way hair lies on his arm, how he is in conversation with a child or pet, the strength of his legs, personal scent, the unguarded expression caught. The way he hums.
An unexpected sweetness that moves me.
Grace
Apr 13, 2013
Apr 13, 2013 at 1:16 PM UTC
Silently gliding through
invisible trails
In search of quarry
most rare.
Her bare feet
leaving no prints
for the earth
to reveal her passing.
Her eyes, deepest amber,
search endlessly
until they light upon
her gilded prey.
Notching a silver arrow
from her woven quiver
she takes its life,
and in return
she gives thanks
and blessings
to her prey
and the gods
that provide.
Feb 19, 2012
Feb 19, 2012 at 10:36 PM UTC
Somewhere just to the right
of that second star
in the sky
there's a black hole
******* the joy
out of life
Maybe I'll wave at the moon
as I fly by sometime soon
I'm tired of life's knife
skinning and carving,
notching it's time
on my bones
I'll decide the when
and the how, the hour
of flight
somewhere just to the right
of that second star
in the sky
where morning hides
like a thief in the night
biding her time
slowly waiting for the light
to leave these tired dark eyes
But not tonight, for tomorrow
there's still much to do.
Nov 11, 2017
Nov 11, 2017 at 8:42 PM UTC
When we speak of parents
We usually refer to the mother
More than the father
Which is quite unfortunate
Because fathers are equally special
Of course, it is the mother
Who has to suffer through labour
And its unspeakable pain
In order to bear the child
However, once the child is born
The role of the father
Becomes equally important
Coming to my own experience
I could not have asked
For a better father
He has been there for me, no matter what
Taking me almost anywhere
Whether it be India
Or the rest of the world
A special mention to the train trips
Since it is only due to my Dad
That the Railways hold such a special place in my heart
Next to the Railways
Pride of place goes to cricket and tennis
With Dad sponsoring my cricket coaching
And playing tennis with me and my sister
I will never forget
The India vs Bangladesh match at Birmingham
Nor all those Wimbledon finals
The events themselves were memorable
But it was Dad's company
That made them all the sweeter
Anyway, enough about sports
Without Dad's support
I would never have made it through school
Especially the transition from CBSE to ICSE
That too in the eighth standard
Moreover, not many fathers
Would've been as patient and understanding
As mine was, during my engineering struggles
Which involved notching up seven arrears
However, the biggest challenge was my professional life
My first job was full of ups and downs
And towards the end
I felt like a fish out of water
Plunging from crisis to crisis
And eventually being forced to resign
And take a break from work
During these difficult times
Dad not only arranged my counselling
But also stood by my side like a rock
Putting up with whatever tantrums I threw
And this continued during my second job
Which turned out to be a nerve-wracking experience
Ultimately ending in a termination
After six months of hard toil
Coming to recent times
During my trainwreck of a marriage
And the subsequent divorce process
Dad and I ended up getting closer than ever
And I hope this only continues
Though of course for happier reasons!
So, as I said earlier
Fathers are equally special as mothers
Full stop
Jul 9, 2022
Jul 9, 2022 at 1:45 PM UTC
Soft s
Hard z
Warring names
Like warring nations
Soldiers in and out of filled
Train stations.
Letters March
Up and down
Filling pages of
Notebooks bought brown
Math was a bite and a bore
English is her light and her lore
She never wrote love stories out loud
Because a twice uttered spell could cause her to drown
Deep in a sea of serpentine slopes
That the people called loves, dreams and hopes
But she did color with her mind
A clouded sky
Steeped full of orange and pink painted chai
The cup was bitter but sweet
A chance for two lovers to meet
Select all; delete
Now he is gone before she could sleep
Slumber is simple
Unless you are on watch
Watching your watch for another
To stand notching his clock
Never Relieved of duty
her names never ceased fire
The letters are looting
Abased of greed they get their fill
Filled full of slumber and pills
Sep 7, 2015
Sep 7, 2015 at 5:51 PM UTC
Adjustments to life's seat belt slaps
Can sometimes create a bumpy ride
So don't forget to strap in your
Neighbor before yourself, because
There may be some turbulence
So I **** well hope you don't say the word:
BOMB
Or expect the fires of hades to
Come for your *** walking beside it
Barefoot and friendly, just askin
For a smile, but these days
We both know a smile is at a
Premium and lord knows the
Dollar don't go as far as
It used to.
So roll every penny
And sleeve and keep
Notching your seatbelt,
You earned it kiddo,
Just don't go fallin asleep
At the wheel or you'll
Drift into cowfields and
Hay bales and maybe
See something beautiful
For once in your
Smog-filled, street-lickin' life.
Apr 15, 2016
Apr 15, 2016 at 12:18 AM UTC
4:15am
once and once again, the clock does not sound,
for in nether time,
there are no material measurements,
no actuality of numerals,
no millimeter notching's on skin for ordering
nether night nor dawn, an orderly dark disordering,
as time quietly flows all about your head,
as if it were an obstruction in
a gentling stream's path,
you, but a modest disruption,
a ripple of disappearing existence,
purposed for erosion
yet the unsociable media anoints me marked,
older, an e-naissance contusion upon the body,
your day of creation, your hour of invention,
has gone and passed
Paul calls,^
two melancholy men to melt into one
in word, in song, a comforting troubling
even,
an explanation proffered for the meaning of it all
the grand children,
send a generational appropriate video greeting,
an amorphous, porous, hug of electronic pixels
that will outlast every one of us
even
the last archeologist
nether this, nether that,
the lower register,
the upper hand,
the body, the work,
the body of work,
greeters both, sending morse messages uncoded,
your cracked vessel leaking deep water oil,
reminders that a horizon but another world,
another word,
for unobtainable,
all gone is just, all gone,
a blended beyond, marker of the nether place
of yesterday's and tomorrow's
Oct 18, 2016
Oct 18, 2016 at 4:46 PM UTC
The little girl is crazy or at least she tells us she is
She like's to upset people . She does all the wrong things in the right way
I say you will never be saved . She smiles because she knows that is what she made me say
You will destroy yourself
And she smiles even more at all the attention
She does all the things crazy . She studied hard and learned how to get her way
She is notching another victory over the fear she so loves to create
But sooner or later she must put up or shut up . Then her wheel of fortune must stop
And now she will act out her rage
or face the humiliation instead
So she will cross the line of demarcation . Between the living and the dead
And we will be relieved
So let's not pretend we cared
She will join her ancestors
In her already forgotten grave
Yes she is truly crazy but that no longer bothers me
After she is gone another one will take her place
Dec 31, 2018
Dec 31, 2018 at 11:59 PM UTC
Oh what a scene
Cricket being played on a field of green
Eleven players per team all dressed in whites
What a fabulous, glorious sight
Bowlers bowl, Batsmen bat
Umpires keep the score, was he out, "howzat"
Bowlers aim not too high, not too low
Bowlers bowl not too fast and not too slow
Batsmen notching up the runs
Receiving the ball at full speed, hitting the ball to the boundary for a four
If their lucky they will hit it for six, over the boundary bar
A coin is tossed for who bats first, the losing team defending
Six ***** per over, 50 overs per inning
Who scores the most is the team that is winning
A few rules to abide
Keep your leg to the side, dont get caught leg before wicket
Bowlers of pace, try to keep the ball away from the batsmans face
If you are caught out before you score, a duck will appear on the scoreboard
A century is of course one hundred runs, simply known as a ton
Then comes a break for afternoon tea, sandwiches and cakes all freshly baked
The second team step up to the mark
For this typically English game in the park
Families attend from far and wide to watch the battles of the two cricket sides
Battling it out on a field of green, halcyon days continuing
Jun 12, 2018
Jun 12, 2018 at 3:15 PM UTC