Sometime back I was strolling in the second hand Sunday book mart in delhi. I happen to locate this collection of poems titled Monkey Shadows (sujatha bhatt) from nondescript heap of torn and fading books. This is a set of beautiful collection of poems. Read these lines from my favorite :The Stare (from Monkey Shadows collection).

The stare

There is that moment
when the young child
stares
at the young monkey child
who stares back-
Innocence facing
innocence in a space
where the young monkey child
is not in captivity.
There is purity
clarity
there is a transparence
in this stare
which lasts a long time…
eyes of water
eyes of sky
the soul can still fall through
because the monkey
has yet to learn fear
let alone arrogance….
…………
…………
What remains burning
is that moment
of staring :
the two formed heads
balanced on fragile necks
tilting towards each other,
the monkey face
and the human face
absorbing each other
with intense gentleness.

Isn’t it beautiful???. How about these lines I scribbled the other day

Existential angst of a non-vegetarian

A fish shop is the place
where staring at dead eyes for too long
means the price will be doubled.
Carrying back unanswered questions
will cost more than bargained for.
“Are you going to eat
few questions with raw rice?”
is an answer at wrong place.

my poems

Sea stories

I squint into the afternoon glitter
and tried trace his figure humped,
next to the upturn catamaran.
A fisherman's life is just like the fish he catches,
trapped in the debt of life, he would say
sewing the torn net from the night,
a beedi ignited on the corner end of his lips.
A child in his curious best
I failed to catch his philosophical musings
and insisted more and more on deep sea stories,
the world underneath those huge waves.
He laughed as always he did.
You want me to tell about palatial palaces,
queens and kings,
sea horses and sea elephants, don't you?
He laughed again as he always did.
No kid there is nothing like that
it's a dumb story your mother has told,
there aren't even enough fish down there.
Not even fish.
I would clench my ears, yell at him
and run away for another story.