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"saffron" poems
Speaking of broken hearts and mended fenced in mem'ries   I am painting skies of tangerine, saffron & an illuminated lilac hue against the starkly contrasted crisp cornflower blue, stretching canvas that is along with all the other blindingly beautiful colors of a twilight sky And those dripping cotton candy stratospheric clouds Ice crystals freezing into supercooled water droplets Streaking the sky in cirrus whispers ..I hear them whisper, "hello"... Blinding beauty through unadulterated sunlight I am fleeced like a lamb watching in awe, ..in wonder then stomping sounds of coming thunder, Finding depth and height out  in the stratosphere Blinded by the After Light or afterglow affected by the amount of haze I'm in a daze ...as I am reaching High above the fading light of a brilliant early fall sunset I take a big breath of that sumptuous air and twirl my skirted legs my painted toes where I know I am back to solid ground Appreciating the last time I say sleep well to you  my dear summertimes sweet mem'ries and the fun we had this year. Cherie Nolan © 2016
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Sep 1, 2016
Sep 1, 2016 at 2:39 PM UTC
"After Light"
I stood there, Tall and proud, Half yard behind Death drop, Vortex form at toes, Put fish world in spin. Crush moss trees with Splashing feet. One long gaze Left to right, Miles of pool and stream Spelling poetry in cursive Through eroded landscape. Zip down, Junk out. Open gates of flesh tap Muscle relax, Fresh release Of human nectar. Light separation Casting rainbow shimmer, A dancing upright Tower of liquid. Gravity outstretch Palm grip And connect Via web of Golden pour, Chaps eye to Mother earth. A converging Of torrents, Saturating transparent terrain With saffron and lemon. The taste in a frog's mouth Of sweet ammonia. Clench, And donation over. A momentary meld Of man and nature. Those few seconds Putting context into me: At one with the scenery, An extension of environment, A limb of creation.
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Sep 20, 2015
Sep 20, 2015 at 8:15 AM UTC
******* Down a Waterfall
Water lilies, libidinous lover boys, on the sly circles her naked body, impertinently while she unaware of this, swim and play in her water-crazy, noisy country girl self in this enclosure of ***** pines wildly in bloom, She's happy for being shielded from prying looks of rowdy village boys, adept in disrobing her with their eyes    Enamored, the lilies, white, blue and purple inebriated all, by drinking the nubile beauty limitless all along,under the  level of water and above, breached all the reserves, ahamelessly sevoured her saucy proximity til she left when the dusk, shed saffron all over.         Yet in her innocence she would think, "Poor darlings,how much did they suffer, as I splashed and broke the calm of the pond all evening"
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Feb 27, 2015
Feb 27, 2015 at 11:38 AM UTC
A nymph among water lilies
I hear stories of an ancient land so pure. I see photographs of bluer than blue skies over a lake of molten gold. I drink kahwa flavoured with almond and saffron and add honey, sweetened by bees from the valley, my hips swaying in a crewel work on wool skirt. I hear songs of freedom, I know people who fled. The muezzin prays for peace over bloodstains and tears while children still play under walnut trees. Clouds gather to pray at Shankaracharya Temple on a mountain dipping its toes into water while empty shikaras speak of visiting ghosts. Mothers whose eyes never tire, looking over the sunset for long lost sons; wives who still lay out their husband’s slippers on a carpet with frayed edges. Postmen deliver letters to addresses long abandoned; a generation of elders, eyes of agate, gnarled fingers, brew tea surrounded by memories of children killed, daughters ***** I write for all people who live in war. I write for the age of innocence to return. I write for soft rain to wash away sin. I write for the return to reason. I write for peace to flutter gently through groves of apricot, almond, apple and walnut. Feel the pain. Hear the refrain. Smell the emptiness. This is now. This is now. This is not in the pages of a fading history text. This is now. This is now.
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Nov 6, 2016
Nov 6, 2016 at 7:25 PM UTC
Ballad for Kashmir
I. the emperor sleeps in a palace of porphyry which was a million years building he takes the air in a howdah of jasper beneath saffron umbrellas upon an elephant twelve foot high behind whose ear sits always a crowned king twir- ling an ankus of ebony the fountains of the emperor’s palace run sunlight and moonlight and the emperor’s elephant is a thousand years old the harem of the emperor is carpeted with gold cloth from the ceiling(one diamond timid with nesting incense) fifty marble pillars slipped from immeasurable height,fall,fifty,silent in the incense is tangled a cool moon there are thrice-three-hundred doors carven of chalcedony and before every door a naked ****** watches on their heads turbans of a hundred colours in their hands scimitars like windy torches each is blacker than oblivion the ladies of the emperor’s harem are queens of all the earth and the rings upon their hands are from mines a mile deep but the body of the queen of queens is more transparent than water,she is softer than birds 2. when the emperor is very amorous he reclines upon the couch of couches and beckons with the little finger of his left hand then the thrice-three-hundredth door is opened by the tallest ****** and the queen of queens comes forth ankles musical with large pearls kingdoms in her ears at the feet of the emperor a cithern- player squats with quiveringgold body behind the emperor ten elected warriors with bodies of lazy jade and twitching eyelids finger their unquiet spears the queen of queens is dancing her subtle body weaving insinuating upon the gold cloth incessantly creates patterns of sudden lust her stealing body ex- pending gathering pouring upon itself stiffenS to a white thorn of desire the taut neck of the citharede wags in the dust the ghastly warriors amber with lust breathe together the emperor,exerting himself among his pillows throws jewels at the queen of queens and white money upon her nakedness he nods and all depart through the bruised air aflutter with pearls 3. they are alone he beckons,she rises she stands a moment in the passion of the fifty pillars listening while the queens of all the earth writhe upon deep rugs
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The Emperor
I. the emperor sleeps in a palace of porphyry which was a million years building he takes the air in a howdah of jasper beneath saffron umbrellas upon an elephant twelve foot high behind whose ear sits always a crowned king twir- ling an ankus of ebony the fountains of the emperor’s palace run sunlight and moonlight and the emperor’s elephant is a thousand years old the harem of the emperor is carpeted with gold cloth from the ceiling(one diamond timid with nesting incense) fifty marble pillars slipped from immeasurable height,fall,fifty,silent in the incense is tangled a cool moon there are thrice-three-hundred doors carven of chalcedony and before every door a naked ****** watches on their heads turbans of a hundred colours in their hands scimitars like windy torches each is blacker than oblivion the ladies of the emperor’s harem are queens of all the earth and the rings upon their hands are from mines a mile deep but the body of the queen of queens is more transparent than water,she is softer than birds 2. when the emperor is very amorous he reclines upon the couch of couches and beckons with the little finger of his left hand then the thrice-three-hundredth door is opened by the tallest ****** and the queen of queens comes forth ankles musical with large pearls kingdoms in her ears at the feet of the emperor a cithern- player squats with quiveringgold body behind the emperor ten elected warriors with bodies of lazy jade and twitching eyelids finger their unquiet spears the queen of queens is dancing her subtle body weaving insinuating upon the gold cloth incessantly creates patterns of sudden lust her stealing body ex- pending gathering pouring upon itself stiffenS to a white thorn of desire the taut neck of the citharede wags in the dust the ghastly warriors amber with lust breathe together the emperor,exerting himself among his pillows throws jewels at the queen of queens and white money upon her nakedness he nods and all depart through the bruised air aflutter with pearls 3. they are alone he beckons,she rises she stands a moment in the passion of the fifty pillars listening while the queens of all the earth writhe upon deep rugs
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Clouds don't lie.  They tell the truth wherever they may go. Their shadows give relief to creatures down below. They change their forms and colors the chameleons of the air. Majestically, they soar above to play with angels there. They weep to nourish growing crops and bring the snow and hail. A crown of lightning lights their heads before the coming gale. Clouds can ride the jet stream like a wrangler on his steed, Then float serenely on the breeze and other cloudlings breed. They soak up sunset, changing hue, vermilion, saffron, gold... Then soar to higher atmospheres to frolic in the cold. Free to roam the open sky, they mock the earth-bound horde And blithely glide upon the wind, no passengers aboard. Oh, how I'd like to take a ride upon a breaking dawn. But clouds don't lie, and so deny, a chance of getting on. Unpretentious are the clouds.   They care not for our awe. They graze upon their crystals and are quite above the law. The mysteries the clouds have kept since Mother Earth began... Are kept behind the truth they tell, as part of heaven's plan.
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May 18, 2017
May 18, 2017 at 12:18 PM UTC
Chameleons in the Air
*This Morning The Golden Sun Rose With a Midas touch Smiled at the Skies In Scintillating Colours Bedewed the Atmosphere In a Lush Orange Squash A Rush of Pomegranate Reds A Spread of Fiery hot Saffron Threads Far Away Billowed The Feathery White Pristine Kashmir Clouds The Mirthful birds On the wire , Chirped A Mesmerised me , Revelled In the Early Morning Bliss Nature Imbues Taking away the Sky's Blues*
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Jan 12, 2018
Jan 12, 2018 at 7:45 AM UTC
A Beautiful SunRise
He thought that he had been evicted like a raucous Irishman, late once again on the rent, his belongings and furniture strewn on the lawn His cold, deadly stare and ruffled red, said the same, with haughty indignation written all over him As could be expected with any eviction, belongings strewn to the street, it started to rain; large splattering drops falling from the sky with an audible impact, adding insult to the injury But he was just a child, set free and off to learn on his own, his perch and roost along with his chair, moved to his new home He had outgrown the large screen porch, which was such a ridiculous place for an Owl anyway Wood and glen gone, surrounded by girder and screen, locked into the realm of old peoples coffee and cigarettes Tucked up into the eaves ignominiously, or sitting on the lamp, grooming flesh from his over large and taloned feet He would sit silhouetted by the dim red glow of the bulb, relaxing, until a noise would spin his head and he would become hooded and glaring death The lamp added a glow to his eyes, which already burned with a raptors fire and he would become the personification of evil to the world of prey Low and crouched, wings slightly spread; he would become the terrifying story that small warm animals tell their children at night to keep them in line and safe But now he has been moved outside and all of his familiar belongings with him, or most anyways Now he perches outside, either on the rough, twisted branches near his roost, or his favorite chair, and contemplates late into the night But it seems that he prefers the comfort of his living room and he rests on the arm of the chair, quiet and pensive in the still and humid darkness He stares at me while I smoke; the white plumes drifting like iridescent fog into the moonlight, while I observe him from his former home, illuminated by the dim lamp light His saffron eyes gleam in the darkness, his dark form robed in that of the raptor, wings held down, with the tips outstretched like fingers He stares at the lamp, standing like a pedestal against the wall and I wonder to myself Does he want his ****** lamp moved out there too?
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Aug 29, 2014
Aug 29, 2014 at 4:44 PM UTC
Owls with furniture
He thought that he had been evicted like a raucous Irishman, late once again on the rent, his belongings and furniture strewn on the lawn His cold, deadly stare and ruffled red, said the same, with haughty indignation written all over him As could be expected with any eviction, belongings strewn to the street, it started to rain; large splattering drops falling from the sky with an audible impact, adding insult to the injury But he was just a child, set free and off to learn on his own, his perch and roost along with his chair, moved to his new home He had outgrown the large screen porch, which was such a ridiculous place for an Owl anyway Wood and glen gone, surrounded by girder and screen, locked into the realm of old peoples coffee and cigarettes Tucked up into the eaves ignominiously, or sitting on the lamp, grooming flesh from his over large and taloned feet He would sit silhouetted by the dim red glow of the bulb, relaxing, until a noise would spin his head and he would become hooded and glaring death The lamp added a glow to his eyes, which already burned with a raptors fire and he would become the personification of evil to the world of prey Low and crouched, wings slightly spread; he would become the terrifying story that small warm animals tell their children at night to keep them in line and safe But now he has been moved outside and all of his familiar belongings with him, or most anyways Now he perches outside, either on the rough, twisted branches near his roost, or his favorite chair, and contemplates late into the night But it seems that he prefers the comfort of his living room and he rests on the arm of the chair, quiet and pensive in the still and humid darkness He stares at me while I smoke; the white plumes drifting like iridescent fog into the moonlight, while I observe him from his former home, illuminated by the dim lamp light His saffron eyes gleam in the darkness, his dark form robed in that of the raptor, wings held down, with the tips outstretched like fingers He stares at the lamp, standing like a pedestal against the wall and I wonder to myself Does he want his ****** lamp moved out there too?
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charcoal oxblood poppy pomegranate maroon cranberry cherry creamsicle orange soda saffron lemon egg yolk buttermilk sunflower olive forest lime mint ice blueberry royal blue navy bubblegum fuschia salmon grape lavender wine chocolate espresso
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Mar 2, 2015
Mar 2, 2015 at 2:07 AM UTC
My Favorite Colors
He is walking the white line his arm a repetitious arc sounding a single tone timed to the pace of hiking-boot feet treading the pavement. Saffron robes have grayed over long meditative miles witnessed by curious commuters riding the pendulum away from his purposeful daily counterpoint the freedom held in rhythmic ritual how the mind stills and gathers in the swinging blur of hand and stick. I roll the window down seeking precious solace as I hurtle past knowing he walks for me too I want to stop the car fall in behind feel the timeless drum the stillness of salvation.
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Jan 12, 2016
Jan 12, 2016 at 12:30 PM UTC
Monk in Hiking Boots
Today is the festival of colours. We,Indians, sprinkle colours on friends Nature is replete with beautiful colurs. Life is a mixture of many emotions We turn red when we are angry and we become greenif we are jealous Red stands for change and valour White is symbolic of peace and purity Green symbolizes harvest and prosperity Yellow is considered good omen Saffron means sacrifice black is considered an evil The leaves are green The human blood is red The Ripe fruits and corn are yellow milk is white and the sky is blue Nature and life are inseparable Different colours tell different things May the festival of colurs bring Happiness and prosperity in this trouble torn world!
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Mar 19, 2011
Mar 19, 2011 at 3:38 AM UTC
HOLI, THE FESTIVAL OF COLOURS
What a face "Sells" Abruptly she yells Matte burning dry Just try Too moisten her lips She's the Red devil From hell why does her orange face peel sell? The right color a psychic won't tell Wishing well drenched He touched my orange juice "All Frenched" She loves to slice and he peels what appeal orange saffron sauce One last juicy squirt divorce It's time for fresh squeeze Too frozen concentrate The happy hour "Orange" feel   no other place like fate Ten times real "One" face peel has been love absorbed Like lemon meringue Tainted love Bitter grind soft butter glove Do you mind orange flame (The Spa) sells to be loved Tra la so kind all Grunge Going "Wawa" coffee cruel Other colors haha Movie set Orange payroll lounge tease squirt But destroyed by the evil spell curse Summoned on sunburst But we need the Orange before the sun comes Like clones orange, you glad we have "Green Apple" phones One step beyond orange zones I don't want to burst your orange sauce Grand Marnier starry twist of orange Two timing orange yogurt Taste to tangy it hurt Hey Yo Orange peel Spa Still sticks Orange Julius flirt O outrageous P pick What turns us on and gets us sick Plan your work and work your plan Never offend her Let's see the chef make you love her Creamified dreamlike Whip free The orange mousse pie Let me hear it yummy to lie
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Apr 21, 2018
Apr 21, 2018 at 11:43 AM UTC
Orange Peel Sells
Gold may flow in rivers for all I care. In the dusty song of the koel, In the humid and bustling, cheerful bazaars, In the warm sunshine in the eyes of my people when the rain wipes the ashes off the lenses after another season of fire, Where everyday is a new storm, perhaps a new rainbow, In the welcoming, sweat-stained soils, My footsteps shall always wander... The rabbit on the moon smiles. ~Wordsmith
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May 31, 2015
May 31, 2015 at 2:49 PM UTC
Oil Lamps And Saffron
THERE is a woman on Michigan Boulevard keeps a parrot and goldfish and two white mice. She used to keep a houseful of girls in kimonos and three pushbuttons on the front door. Now she is alone with a parrot and goldfish and two white mice ... but these are some of her thoughts: The love of a soldier on furlough or a sailor on shore leave burns with a bonfire red and saffron. The love of an emigrant workman whose wife is a thousand miles away burns with a blue smoke. The love of a young man whose sweetheart married an older man for money burns with a sputtering uncertain flame. And there is a love ... one in a thousand ... burns clean and is gone leaving a white ash.... And this is a thought she never explains to the parrot and goldfish and two white mice.
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White Ash
I used to cook for her all the time. I wonder if she remembers. Can she? Ramen noodles and toast at 3:30 in the morning, churros at 8:15. Sometimes in the middle of the night she’d cat call my name and I’d always run to her wondering- Is she hurt? and then She better not have hurt herself. I knew better though after the first few times, yet I always went willingly enough through her open bedroom door because she wanted me to. But mostly chicken noodle soup on Sundays and rice and jambalaya on Wednesday. mmmmmmmmm.... Carminolas with a kick. Pop pop pop and her buttons would fly across the room and other times she’d be under the sheets, already ready to press my hands against her caramelized skin. And if we add a pinch of saffron, a dash a sumac, and a teaspoon full of ajwain she will taste like heaven and for those cherry lovers add a bit of mahlebi. But I remember. She tasted like homemade chocolate and marshmallows. Go make Mama something tasty. She’d say afterwards and send me from the warmth of her bed, a Saturday Night Live rerun echoing after me. I’d bring her dumplings and udon and watch her while she ate, wondering- Can she taste the arsenic?
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Mar 22, 2013
Mar 22, 2013 at 8:13 AM UTC
Cooking For Carmelita
The new Ugadi brings in many a dream But this year it is the time for electioneering team Instead of the tender mango buds and the melodious song Man political campaigners do throng We hear the opportunistic , affectionate political call Despite hiding their possible fall Not heeding to the election code Money flows on the busy road For every precious vote There is at least a thousand Rupees note Wine one can drink Until one does sink We offer corruption as diet for Mother Goddess without shame We have become a part of this vicious game For votes and seats Andhra Pradesh has met with unilateral division The Italian and the saffron aunt have the devilish unison In fact, ther is no scope for any party to get our vote But in democracy not to vote is like cutting our own throat As long as breadth is there, there will be life As long as life is there , there will be hope and strife I hope this new year Jaya usher in many a success to the common man The youth shall have creativity, social justice and bright future, for which I yearn
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Mar 31, 2014
Mar 31, 2014 at 7:48 AM UTC
Ugadi in Elections
The saffron of virtue and contentment Is dissolved in the water-gun of love and affection. Pink and red clouds of emotion are flying about, Limitless colours raining down. All the covers of the earthen vessel of my body are wide open; I have thrown away all shame before the world. Mira's Lord is the Mountain-Holder, the suave lover. I sacrifice myself in devotion to His lotus feet.
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The Saffron
scarlet, vermillion, saffron, in air samhain sacrifice for the coming night brushstrokes 'cross limbs soon laid bare arcane characters for the fair symbols ward them till distant light scarlet, vermillion, saffron, in air offered to old gods in ritual prayer last colors of autumn before winter's white brushstrokes 'cross limbs soon laid bare an iron will to survive, they do declare a solemn pact and a sacred rite scarlet, vermillion, saffron, in air herald the end of summer's affair golden head bowed to geimhreadh's might brushstrokes 'cross limbs soon laid bare still stand proud they do, with defiant glare the trees of the forrest an enchanting sight scarlet, vermillion, saffron, in air brushstrokes 'cross limbs soon laid bare
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Sep 28, 2013
Sep 28, 2013 at 10:31 AM UTC
autumn
#*Multitudes will be liberated by that recognition; and although multitudes obtain liberation in that manner, the number of sentient beings being great, evil karma powerful, obscurations dense, propensities o too long standing, the Wheel of Ignorance and Illusion becometh neither exhausted nor accelerated*.            The Tibetan Book of the Dead           translation:  Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup Free Tibet your sticker tells me… Yes, I think, perhaps I should – and the noble thought compels me, uninformed, half-understood. Will their freedom help my Karma? Upgrade my reincarnation? (Soul who could not dare to harm a fly… much less a Buddhist nation.) Not to justify aggression by the ever-brutal Commies, let us grant no glib concession to the Maoists – or their mommies. Slogans echo in the void, shining in bardos of the dead; stopped by the light, I am annoyed impatient for the change from red. A bumper crop of human woe beams forth a mandate to my brain while red Dakinis circle slow in Buddhist hells of karmic pain. The eastern concepts here diverge and bow before brutality. They make this driver long to merge with incorporeality. Then I glimpse a monkish fellow swathed in saffron, calmly seated. His, the cloud-borne sage’s pillow; mine the traffic; stalled, defeated. In his gaze of stern displeasure I perceive the orient stars calculating man’s mismeasure trapped, exhausted, among the cars. Flanked by Spirits wreathed in fire he extends an accusing hand: Western slave of base desire: come and  liberate my land !” I meditate before the stop light: am I ready for the task ? Should I just refuse it outright Can’t it be someone else ?  I ask… Must I free this mountain nation from the Buddha, demons and Reds? Shall your sticker’s declaration shatter the yoke and raise their heads ? Somebody ought to free Tibet, and heed this Himalayan cry. Maybe we should get upset… The red light changes. Cars pass by, predestined for benign events and unconcerned for persecution; oblivious to dissidents awaiting execution.
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Dec 14, 2015
Dec 14, 2015 at 9:14 PM UTC
Exhausted Karma
#*Multitudes will be liberated by that recognition; and although multitudes obtain liberation in that manner, the number of sentient beings being great, evil karma powerful, obscurations dense, propensities o too long standing, the Wheel of Ignorance and Illusion becometh neither exhausted nor accelerated*.            The Tibetan Book of the Dead           translation:  Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup Free Tibet your sticker tells me… Yes, I think, perhaps I should – and the noble thought compels me, uninformed, half-understood. Will their freedom help my Karma? Upgrade my reincarnation? (Soul who could not dare to harm a fly… much less a Buddhist nation.) Not to justify aggression by the ever-brutal Commies, let us grant no glib concession to the Maoists – or their mommies. Slogans echo in the void, shining in bardos of the dead; stopped by the light, I am annoyed impatient for the change from red. A bumper crop of human woe beams forth a mandate to my brain while red Dakinis circle slow in Buddhist hells of karmic pain. The eastern concepts here diverge and bow before brutality. They make this driver long to merge with incorporeality. Then I glimpse a monkish fellow swathed in saffron, calmly seated. His, the cloud-borne sage’s pillow; mine the traffic; stalled, defeated. In his gaze of stern displeasure I perceive the orient stars calculating man’s mismeasure trapped, exhausted, among the cars. Flanked by Spirits wreathed in fire he extends an accusing hand: Western slave of base desire: come and  liberate my land !” I meditate before the stop light: am I ready for the task ? Should I just refuse it outright Can’t it be someone else ?  I ask… Must I free this mountain nation from the Buddha, demons and Reds? Shall your sticker’s declaration shatter the yoke and raise their heads ? Somebody ought to free Tibet, and heed this Himalayan cry. Maybe we should get upset… The red light changes. Cars pass by, predestined for benign events and unconcerned for persecution; oblivious to dissidents awaiting execution.
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Only the eyes remain as they were. The rest of her face is ravaged by acid. Acid thrown by two boys on a cycle. Just another dare. She combs her long hair carefully. Plaits it neatly away from her face. No curtain of hair to hide behind. Puts a bindi in the battleground of keloids, scars and uncooked skin. She wears them well. The boys genuflect in a temple, mothers kissing saffron kerchief covered heads before they gel their hair and go on another prowl. This is what 
men do, you see. Lakshmi puts another layer of cream on her burns and then stands behind a beauty counter selling bindis and lipsticks to girls with unblemished faces, like their eyes. Like her eyes.
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Mar 8, 2016
Mar 8, 2016 at 4:32 AM UTC
Lakshmi's Eyes
Since I have no other way And am in utmost need, Painter girl, I filch one of the eight lambs You have made plump with Green jackfruit leaves and Thin gruel with paddy bran. I will take it to the goat market And sell it in a jiffy. I assure you I will not sell it To any butcher- The lamb you made chubby With sweet sweet words And much much petting And nice lilting croons, Mixing and mixing Greens with browns. Don’t be sad, painter girl. I hear you come running Searching for your lamb and Cry out “O my dearest one Who went grazing in the green fields,” As the sun in your canvas Sets in the sea and The saffron blends with the dusk. And, see your tears mingle With the black that you wanted To adorn the brow of The naughtiest of them. Painter girl, It’s all because I have no other go And it’s of utmost need. I could have broken into the Two-storeyedhouse you sketched And stolen the ornaments in Secret lockers that even You are unaware of. Or, I could have Palmed the golden girdle Of the beautiful ***** princess Whose portrait you made, The one with a nose stud. Or, drugged her with my kisses And plundered the harem. Or else, I could have Entered the snake shrine Guarded by the dark serpents That you often drew And fled the country with The precious jewel. Or, I could have shot down The birds that you drew And sold them grilled. I could have axed down the Mahagony trees you nurtured And sold them as timber. I could have blinded your Kanhaiah And made him a beggar To become rich from the alms he earned. I could have enslavened his Gopis And handed them over To the red light streets. Painter girl, It’s not for anything of this sort. I take just one of your eight lambs. Sell it for a good price And fulfill my need. Now, perchance, If a new tenant comes to rent My brain where nothing resides And if they pay me a fat advance, Painter girl, Surely will I buy back your lamb. And tether it in your painting. Don’t you dare say then Don’t you say then That you have forgotten it. Don’t you say then You have exhausted your stock of Green jackfruit leaves. (Trans from Malayalam by Ra Sh)
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Nov 3, 2013
Nov 3, 2013 at 10:04 AM UTC
Painter girl, You with the lambs
Since I have no other way And am in utmost need, Painter girl, I filch one of the eight lambs You have made plump with Green jackfruit leaves and Thin gruel with paddy bran. I will take it to the goat market And sell it in a jiffy. I assure you I will not sell it To any butcher- The lamb you made chubby With sweet sweet words And much much petting And nice lilting croons, Mixing and mixing Greens with browns. Don’t be sad, painter girl. I hear you come running Searching for your lamb and Cry out “O my dearest one Who went grazing in the green fields,” As the sun in your canvas Sets in the sea and The saffron blends with the dusk. And, see your tears mingle With the black that you wanted To adorn the brow of The naughtiest of them. Painter girl, It’s all because I have no other go And it’s of utmost need. I could have broken into the Two-storeyedhouse you sketched And stolen the ornaments in Secret lockers that even You are unaware of. Or, I could have Palmed the golden girdle Of the beautiful ***** princess Whose portrait you made, The one with a nose stud. Or, drugged her with my kisses And plundered the harem. Or else, I could have Entered the snake shrine Guarded by the dark serpents That you often drew And fled the country with The precious jewel. Or, I could have shot down The birds that you drew And sold them grilled. I could have axed down the Mahagony trees you nurtured And sold them as timber. I could have blinded your Kanhaiah And made him a beggar To become rich from the alms he earned. I could have enslavened his Gopis And handed them over To the red light streets. Painter girl, It’s not for anything of this sort. I take just one of your eight lambs. Sell it for a good price And fulfill my need. Now, perchance, If a new tenant comes to rent My brain where nothing resides And if they pay me a fat advance, Painter girl, Surely will I buy back your lamb. And tether it in your painting. Don’t you dare say then Don’t you say then That you have forgotten it. Don’t you say then You have exhausted your stock of Green jackfruit leaves. (Trans from Malayalam by Ra Sh)
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Dim dawn behind the tamerisks—the sky is saffron-yellow— As the women in the village grind the corn, And the parrots seek the riverside, each calling to his fellow That the Day, the staring Easter Day is born. Oh the white dust on the highway! Oh the stenches in the byway! Oh the clammy fog that hovers And at Home they’re making merry ’neath the white and scarlet berry— What part have India’s exiles in their mirth? Full day begind the tamarisks—the sky is blue and staring— As the cattle crawl afield beneath the yoke, And they bear One o’er the field-path, who is past all hope or caring, To the ghat below the curling wreaths of smoke. Call on Rama, going slowly, as ye bear a brother lowly— Call on Rama—he may hear, perhaps, your voice! With our hymn-books and our psalters we appeal to other altars, And to-day we bid “good Christian men rejoice!” High noon behind the tamarisks—the sun is hot above us— As at Home the Christmas Day is breaking wan. They will drink our healths at dinner—those who tell us how they love us, And forget us till another year be gone! Oh the toil that knows no breaking! Oh the Heimweh, ceaseless, aching! Oh the black dividing Sea and alien Plain! Youth was cheap—wherefore we sold it. Gold was good—we hoped to hold it, And to-day we know the fulness of our gain. Grey dusk behind the tamarisks—the parrots fly together— As the sun is sinking slowly over Home; And his last ray seems to mock us shackled in a lifelong tether. That drags us back how’er so far we roam. Hard her service, poor her payment—she is ancient, tattered raiment— India, she the grim Stepmother of our kind. If a year of life be lent her, if her temple’s shrine we enter, The door is hut—we may not look behind. Black night behind the tamarisks—the owls begin their chorus— As the conches from the temple scream and bray. With the fruitless years behind us, and the hopeless years before us, Let us honor, O my brother, Christmas Day! Call a truce, then, to our labors—let us feast with friends and neighbors, And be merry as the custom of our caste; For if “faint and forced the laughter,” and if sadness follow after, We are richer by one mocking Christmas past.
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Christmas In India
Dim dawn behind the tamerisks—the sky is saffron-yellow— As the women in the village grind the corn, And the parrots seek the riverside, each calling to his fellow That the Day, the staring Easter Day is born. Oh the white dust on the highway! Oh the stenches in the byway! Oh the clammy fog that hovers And at Home they’re making merry ’neath the white and scarlet berry— What part have India’s exiles in their mirth? Full day begind the tamarisks—the sky is blue and staring— As the cattle crawl afield beneath the yoke, And they bear One o’er the field-path, who is past all hope or caring, To the ghat below the curling wreaths of smoke. Call on Rama, going slowly, as ye bear a brother lowly— Call on Rama—he may hear, perhaps, your voice! With our hymn-books and our psalters we appeal to other altars, And to-day we bid “good Christian men rejoice!” High noon behind the tamarisks—the sun is hot above us— As at Home the Christmas Day is breaking wan. They will drink our healths at dinner—those who tell us how they love us, And forget us till another year be gone! Oh the toil that knows no breaking! Oh the Heimweh, ceaseless, aching! Oh the black dividing Sea and alien Plain! Youth was cheap—wherefore we sold it. Gold was good—we hoped to hold it, And to-day we know the fulness of our gain. Grey dusk behind the tamarisks—the parrots fly together— As the sun is sinking slowly over Home; And his last ray seems to mock us shackled in a lifelong tether. That drags us back how’er so far we roam. Hard her service, poor her payment—she is ancient, tattered raiment— India, she the grim Stepmother of our kind. If a year of life be lent her, if her temple’s shrine we enter, The door is hut—we may not look behind. Black night behind the tamarisks—the owls begin their chorus— As the conches from the temple scream and bray. With the fruitless years behind us, and the hopeless years before us, Let us honor, O my brother, Christmas Day! Call a truce, then, to our labors—let us feast with friends and neighbors, And be merry as the custom of our caste; For if “faint and forced the laughter,” and if sadness follow after, We are richer by one mocking Christmas past.
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Tight roping the catwalk of life's hopes and dreams I  tiptoe through trying to avoid hurting myself upon Jagged pieces of broken glass Obstacles to my aims and desires Atop the saffron walls of my blue sky thinking. From here I could allow myself to fall into blackness containing all possibilities Or stay safe aloft and on high Continuing to follow my narrow path My feet tire of this peregrine journey And yearn to search for colours new To allow myself to pass through deepest black Through to purest white And enter the rainbow Where in life's spectrum All souls glow within its flow.
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Jul 31, 2016
Jul 31, 2016 at 12:09 PM UTC
The rainbow
Awake to a slowly beating drum morning meditation drifting up the hill in the garden, tiny birds add sweet highs tuneless ravens, the bass undertone trees whisper ancient lyrics on the passing breeze. We stroll the Path of Philosophy through massive wooden gates into carefully sculpted gardens exploring the endless number of temples dotting Kyoto each more lovely than the last. Quiet Nanzen-Ji is where I feel the most following worship worn steps to a cave-shrine heady with wet and incense we are purified by waterfall spray before returning the way we came voices hushed buoyed by eternity’s hand. The hotel lobby is filled with crimson and saffron glistening heads and broad smiles from monks gathered there we bow to each other and are one may it never be forgotten revelers arrive by busload for hanami, cherry blossom viewing beneath a revered tree decked out in pink splendor lit from below to radiate surreal, internal light we sample Kobe yakitori soba and corn grilled over open flame as we flow through the smiling celebratory crowd we savor what is transitory as sparks and blossoms whirl settling on our hair and skin.
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Jan 13, 2016
Jan 13, 2016 at 12:15 PM UTC
Kyoto
Like an autumn tree Let us absorb reality Starting at the roots Until our branches rain mastery Reflect upon us like the sun does Enlighten my trunk, my fiber Sweeten the fruits of my leaves Only to match the touch of saffron soil To grow green, silk & brocade, I pray Ending fall season, turned into gold, I supplicate Naggingly I ask You, ٱلْمُعِزُّ Gather this four-season-Ummah with just one breeze
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Nov 28, 2021
Nov 28, 2021 at 11:06 AM UTC
Autumn 🍂