the stranger.osi

' marbles '

inside her marble eyes

diaphanous darkness
perfunctory quiescence
she wonders where she lost
that rainbow on bubbles

in those eyes her daddy
felt the constellations
marbles in the backyard
games of the galaxies

now she is a grownup
in the realm of the my
the me , the mine, the i
the boundaries have been drawn

in her eyes like marbles ..

/ original / z.g.

( Ed : last line - inside her marble eyes )

blue rain .osi

' truth '

this transparent bubble
holds a river in flux
a sea in its stillness
the buoyancy of clouds

reflecting a moment
crimson,violet,orange
look how the raindrop feels
on colorful petals

the moon shades it silvern
a sun paints it golden
it could even be blue
if you wear toy glasses

and run like an urchin
through the streets of nowhere
as he finds what he wants
shouting blue rain. , blue rain ..

/ original / z.g.

assimilation.osi

' consciousness '

a molecule of pain splits
into iridescent photons
in the dark waters
a moon splinter
like a doppelganger, quakes
fallen from its apogee
crafting chimerical expressions
the branches of fir,cedar or aspens
touched by the light
from a hundred light years away
it all permeates my existence
in one single instant
become i
the brokenness of the moon ..

/original / z.g.

walls.osi

' walled '

[ echoes " another brick in the wall " ]

a school , prison or exalted court room
brick by brick they form
a visible blankness
a writer reads between the lines
the poet builds up a metaphor
an artist manipulates color
the architect bends the ceiling

inside the sancta sanctorum
an eternity immured

while in the decrepit shantytown
plaster flakes off, on the walls
a palimpsest of wounds
seepage teases geometry
the cracks of reality stare
but an anonymous occupant
finds a yin yang wallpaper ..

/ original / z.g.

[ ED- lines 2 & 3-brick by brick they rise
in the visible blankness -
pink floyd ~ british rock band *]

" We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone " ~ excerpt from the song ' another brick in the wall ' * part 2

osi.intersections

' the attic '

motes of dust prick her eyes
forming a liquid film
a shaft of light intersects the shadows
inside the attic
gaze transfixed on an old lawn-mower
she remembers
her father's voice
rumblings of warm laughter
merged with the drone of a machine
where they stood watching
through unseen pathways of the wind
a shimmer of flowery wings
zigzag across the dahlias
to land on nasturtiums
the crisscrossing of ifs and buts
pollinating life
she wipes the lawn-mower
fondly ..

/ original / z.g.

denouement.osi

' iris '


watches the writing on the wall
in the gray color of the clouds
the scribbled flashes of lightning
make a veiled threat to his hutment

dyslexic eyes falter with words
unable to read the warning
in plottings of the thunderbolt
and conspiring skies scarcely lit

with the rain gone a rainbow shines
he gazes in fascination
at the seven wonderful shades
of do re mi fa sol la ti ..

/original/ z.g.

[ Dyslexia is a learning disability characterized by problems with reading, spelling, writing, speaking, or listening.
Recent studies have shown that incorporating music in learning can help to increase language skills in children with dyslexia / iris ~ greek goddess of the rainbow ]

( ED - line 3 : the flashes of lightning scribble
line 4 : 'nother veiled threat to his hutment
line 8 : and conspiracies in the sky )

dropped.osi

( to all the folks of my hometown ~ bhopal )

' in cold blood '

i hear my voice speak to myself, is that being alive
an ordinary question that segues into the dark
i think of the cows mooing sorrowfully, a bird crying
the dogs wailing and running like mad into a blind street

it was the dead of night and the eyes of the people burnt
the wind , a farrago of rumors , shrieks split the silence
one old man wanted to run , was shackled by arthritis
an ailing wife could not stop coughing , till her lungs burst

two wheel-chairs, a daughter on one , a son on the other
their scared mom and dad , helpless , could not run , could do nothing
the MIC , methyl isocyanate,was in the air
a factory's gas chamber of death was knocking the door *

like hiroshima memories , a tree sprouts yellow leaves
unborn children , still , pay with birth-disorders , their pulse drops
carbide , with a new name , rationalizes a drop in profits
and the victims they die slowly , if that's being alive ..

/original/ z.g.

[ union carbide usa , maker of eveready cells , in the december of 1984 dropped a shroud of death on the unsuspecting citizens of bhopal - infamous as - the bhopal gas tragedy ..

web ref :

methyl isocyanate (MIC)

On December 3rd, 1984, thousands of people in Bhopal , India , were gassed to death

Remedial measures were then taken at Union Carbide's identical MIC plant in West Virginia, USA, but not in Bhopal. December 2-3, 1984: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/toxic-hotspots/bhopal-timeline- 63k -

u can click here - to reach the said page

the plant released 42 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than 500000 people to toxic gases. ./ the ecology has been hit - the disaster carries forward into f2 , f3 / the company takes a new 'avatar ' ]

[ ED - ' a factory had opened its gas chamber of death ' * / sprouts replaces grows ]