Poetic Smorgasbord - July

Sunset in Japan

Sweta Srivastava Vikram 

The ocean’s belly is swollen
with broken bodies of babies and debris—
a mutilated Geisha girl.
 

Like the wind with nothing to lose,
curls in waves crushed nests of houses—
stolen images from Hokusai’s dreams.

Birds mourned, water flooded
-eyes searched the ones who went missing—
the heroic Samurai shuddered helplessly.

The sun burnt nightmares in the earth—
cherry blossoms tainted along with seawater and soil.
Zen became homeless, roamed Mt. Fuji alone.

Will folding origami cranes bring back sunlight? I don’t know.
When a poet drinks from the pot of cynicism,
kimono can cover stains of questions; answers sit alone.

 

Poets and Prisoners

Sweta Srivastava Vikram 

Armed
with tools and an appetite
for gruesomely sinful
freshly baked Mississippi mud pie,
they spend
the afternoons showering
words,
shooting
opinions,
so fellow inmates swim
across the barrier and reach the oasis
where hope doesn’t bite.
 

Like a myna tugs
at a worm,
the group yanks
the block of tattoo,
the unspoken obstacle in the journey,
so ink can flow freely.
 

At poetry gatherings,
like prison groups meetings,
people look out
for each other
so no one is left behind
rotting alone on the vine.

But
five shades of hair color split,
like ends on neurons,
once they leave the boudoir—
mute puppets in the crowd
follow the trail
of only their own shadow.


Melody Forgotten


Romantix (transcreated from Rabindranath Tagore)


Melody forgotten
When I hasten about in work alone
My heart senses the rebuke in your eyes

Vistas vanish before my eyes
Lost are the skies and mother earth
Opulent azure sweet verdure
Far far beyond they fade away
Eludes me their gentle caress
My heart senses the rebuke in your eyes

The cosmos conspires with the winds
To stir me into a fervence
With a hint of that melody

No place on earth worthy enough
For you to take your royal throne
I even lose the hope within
To welcome you into myself
My heart senses the rebuke in your eyes