wanderlust.osi

' conundrum '

his wanderlust is dead
or so i suppose
having seen it all ,
grave gigantic granites ,
viscous hazy ambers
glued as dusk to a vineyard ,
brooks springing out of nowhere
to let the beavers be ,
road-mapping the dirt tracks
to reach where the rainbows don't ,
he ties his laces yet ,
where to i quiz
he answers in riddles
- where i find myself
grounded as the tree
whose driftwood i am ..


/ original / z.g.

[ Ed : Line 3 - he has seen it all ]

junction.osi

' the pub owner '

the brackish taste of his own sweat
begs a parole from the gulag
of daily drudgery,
of the mayonnaise
the ploughman's grub
the bittersweet cocktail,
served to the visitors
filling his space ,
where laughters intersect
the inside atmosphere ,
so he moves outward
to throw birdfeed
to the passerine
to the meadowlark
perched on their cherished haunt
a tree without a leaf
without a shade
of schadenfreude ..


/ original / z.g.


[ .. to everyone-everywhere -

` a very merry christmas ! ]

spider-web . osi

' idiomatic '

then - , pony tail flying
' dancing in the dark '
garbed as spiderman
her weird tomboyish ways
couldn't make head nor tail

of spider- phobias -

now - , spins into a maze
her silken flowing hair
the fear of spiders
and a teacher's utterance -
cobwebs in the head ..

/ original / z.g.

( Ed:- Line 6 - of arachnophobia )

- ' dancing in the dark '/ Springsteen / rock
: - arachnophobia - the fear of spiders

lighthouse.osi

' the ( immigrants' ) lighthouse '

like all my sorrows
they start from the earth
in pristine africa
hit by the winds and the waves
smuggled like chattels
dumped on a broken raft,
they melt , like contrails
behind the reality
of some aircraft in the sky,
like flotsam on the sea
drifting through the dusk
and into the night ,
to find an abode of light
on a distant shore
bright as hope in the heart ,
unaware
that the rationale of being
must tie them to handcuffs ,
and deport them
to where they come from ,
like all my sorrows

they stay inside me ..


/ original / z.g.

[ human smuggling from africa to The EU or The US
takes its own toll of human life - people die in transit.Gangsters charge app 1500 USD per illegal immigrant.Millions have migrated while others keep trying - and the light house beckons ]

migration.osi

' migratory birds '

_ ( to medecines sans frontieres )


they come to claim the planet
without passports and visas
winters, not of their making
just question their life on earth

birds fly , sans frontieres
in their world without fences
above the limitations
of conflict and survival

where , another war is on
a son would die in combat
the population would run
to a point of no return ..

/ original / z.g.

creative.osi

' relationships '

together

holding the broken journeys

tidbits rocked the rocking chairs
ploughed through the writing tables
confession boxes echoed
to the taps on a dead tree

whether cut , crafted or burnt
in the fireplace,or elsewhere

where, without any body
what simply lay on the earth
was kind of spiritual
the calming shade of a tree

holding the broken journeys

together ..

/ original / z.g.

[ Ed :
Line 5 - confession boxes , listened ]

reincarnation.osi

' calling names '

theta tends to zero
before resurrection
something must have died

in the calculus of life
death entered the equation
like a partial fraction

didn't kill our ' yesterday '
that was already dead
' today ' was a phoenix

dead hallucination
live actuality
wings of agony & joy

you called it perception
they called it a ghost
i called it life

was it civilization ..

/ original / z.g.

[ Ed -
Line 6 :- it didn't kill ' yesterday '
Line 11 :- sums of agony or joy
Line 15:- wasn't that civilization

:- restructured stanza 1 /
re-titled - - ' calling names '
( IST 14:10 nov.17. tues.2009) ]



[ Web Ref - - Theta / :-

1. Theta is most often used to represent unknown angles, especially in the study of trigonometry.

2. In Scientology, theta means thought or life force

3. theta n. The eighth letter of the Greek alphabet. / Greek theta , of Phoenician origin

4. Also called time decay. theta - - financial-dictionary

5. as the time value declines - - the theta tends toward zero - -Robert T. Daigler - 1994 - Business & Economics

6. _ theta tends to zero _ Mathematics / Calculus ]

departed.osi

' missed calls '

mbote na bino
hello to you all

it speaks every language
russian, chinese, lingala
bridges minds,connects hearts
civilization's toy
responding to touch
unleashing life

' iko kufa - birth is death '

the horizon splits
to reality and dreams
on five million tombstones
of heat tolerant coltan,
another cell phone
toys with civilization

bonjour tout le monde
hello the whole world ..

/ original / z.g.



{ Ref :

In The Democratic Republic of Congo DRC ( Official Languages- Lingala & French )
Coltan Mining [ Heat Resistant Mineral required for Capacitors used in Cell phones , Laptops , Pagers Etc ] has caused the Deaths of More than Five Million People -
surpassing the number of lives lost in World War Two }

shift in time.osi

' syncopation '

skipped circadian rhythms ,
listened to a busker
right time , a speaker cooed
i heard his song , still

a moment of harmony
rummaged through a lifetime
holding what had been

at sixes and sevens
with all status - quo
clocks at the terminus
reflected , what is

my train had gone
another would come
that's what , would be

i kept getting lost
to timelessness ..

/ original / zg

[ / Stanzas - Restructured /
-Ed : -
Line 3 - right time , they announced
Line 4 - i heard a song , still
Line 5 - that moment of melody
Line 7 - and held the had been
Line 10 - those digits on a clock ]

elusive.osi

' relic '

not even an iota
i am
of the earth
my whim is a mountain
splattered by the rain
slashed by a waterfall
grazed by the moaning winds
pierced by the grass
creation and corrosion
elude each other
the scree and the debris
allude to me
a jot and a tittle
pebble on the foothill
i'm the reliquary
of a sacred thought
that is life ..

/ original / zg

[ Ref:
Jot or tittle
A tiny amount.

Origin

The phrase 'jot or tittle' is somewhat tautological, as both jot and tittle refer to tiny quantities. It has passed into English via William Tindale's translation of the New Testament in 1526. It appears there in Matthew 5:18:

A jot is the name of the least letter of an alphabet or the smallest part of a piece of writing. It is the Anglicized version of the Greek iota - the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, which corresponds to the Roman 'i'. This, in turn, was derived from the Hebrew word jod, or yodr, which is the the smallest letter of the square Hebrew alphabet. Apart from its specialist typographical meaning, we still use the word jot more generally to mean 'a tiny amount'. Hence, when we have a brief note to make, we 'jot it down'. ]

conquer .osi

' one '

surrender , to the rain
filling thirsty rivers ,
to the spark of a firefly
enlivening the night ,
a canorous bird call
alive in a symphony ,
imagine
a raven saying hello
dream
of a wild rose laughing
feel
the heat of a forest fire
embrace
a starry moment
from the timeless galaxies
that need to conquer nothing
nobody
but simply belong to me
as i belong to them ..

/ original / zg

postman

postman

a paper plane

chasing
butterflies
finds a boy

unfolds
a message
no from no to

what if
love be
an accident

courtesy
serendipity
a drunken postman ..

/ original / z.g.

[ not happy with my original post > Here /
edited the same to find that it sounded like a bad joke made worse
then rehashed it into something school - boyish ..]

Ref : Sr No.19 / gotcha babble - linked > / >Here /

( :- the donts of poetry )

talisman.osi

faith

wanting a talisman

but finding a leaf

still dancing in the breeze
a dead leaf swirling in the whirlwind
its miracle of life ended
consecrated by the sunrays
that moment of green
was an anonymous breath
inside somebody's chest
letting live

wanting a talisman

but finding a leaf ..

/ original / z.g.

descent.osi

seesaw

clad in a white haze of transience
watch the glorious niagara
falling simply to rise again
water descends but clouds ascend

fragrant agonies burn inside
the petals shrouded in the mist
a tear from heaven is the dew
water descends but clouds ascend

what pearls of sorrow in those eyes
to reach them i just want to sink
like a river into the sea
water descends but clouds ascend ..

/ original / z.g.

colors.osi

refraction

her changed contact lenses
transparent as truth
see through opaque lies
the charred black surfaces
of burnt out grasslands
till a green alphabet
sprouts on the parched earth
the goldenness of the corn
makes breakfast of the day
the porcelain cup of the moon
serves a drink of purplish grapes
her vision is colorless
like pure water or air
colorless
as the prism of my mind
it could bend the truth
or find a rainbow
in the black and the white
of her eyes that i read
like the verse that she is ..

/ original / z.g.

fog.osi

fogs hollywood


leafless branches and twigs
craft out a sign language
delicate fingerwork
weaves patterns into the mist
the autumn lexicon
articulates loneliness
the wind voices that story
a smoke without fire
descends upon a city
of burnt desires
a cloud understands
the fall of spirits
renounces the sky
and settles on the earth ..

/ original / z.g.

" Fog has a mystical feeling.
Like the heavens have come down
to envelop the world and soften it "
~ Lisa at Greenbow
( excerpt from her cmnt at sandy carlson's poem for this prompt )


[ Ed -
Lines 1 to 6 - Rearranged
Line 3 - that delicate fingerwork
Line 7 -the wind voices their story
Line 13 - renouncing the sky
Line 14 - settles on the earth ]

thirst.osi

thirst

these breakers are granulated
wave after wave of them
sands shift like liminal spaces
primitive skeletons
question life and death
in the kalahari of existence
i play with the illusion
not to let a hope die
drinking in the mirage
in search of what is real
on the right side of the mind
i believe as you do
clear waters of the soul
flow as a brook there
what's left of the brain
remains unquenchable ..

/ original / z.g.

[ Edit :

Line 5 -form surreal images / deleted
Line 6 -questioning life and death
Line 7 - like goya's black paintings / deleted
Line 11 - going after that vision / deleted
Line 12- seeking what is real
Line 18 -what's left of my mind ]

romance.osi

^recession _ (2009)..

read between the wrinkles
oneirophrenic tales
in the cafeteria
geriatric voices
discuss the recession
i pretend not to hear
won't last long, she says
might outlast us, he laughs
an argument ensues
over chicken rolls
her favorite dish
but wants his ordered
fall's almost here
must save for the winter
she explains,he yields
like a leaf in autumn
to a living gravity
my cup of coffee, like life
blends into a romance
the bitter and the sweet
around me ..

/ original / z.g.

(editing- line 17 -to the pull of a being ,
like life - moved from line 19 to line 18
added line 21 -around me )

blue .osi

' stones , flowers and blues '

you are right
life can't run on poetics
the porridge and the soup
that's real substance
lapis lazuli
the hair of the sun god re
a solar promise , that's it
but the pendant
has a price tag on
me and my blank verse
for a moment go blank
'cause i'm but an abstraction
a mere thought
almost nothingness
like thin air
turning to dew at times
on your morning glory ..

/ original / z.g.

{ lapis lazuli_ is a blue, greenish blue or purple blue rock ..

_ lapis lazuli stones are considered a stone of universal truth and friendship. A power stone for those who seek spiritual development ..

( source - web )

morning glory ..
blue colored flowers }

allow.osi

' cosmos '

their blood has tainted the sky red
their hunger burns like many suns
the birds speak a prayer for them
it's their thought on the door pharaoh

allow

the day crumbles into shadows
of depression , like anthracite
till a nebular spark somewhere
should burn this coal to dawn somehow

allow

/ original / z.g.

( just words _ dedicated to poverty )

copse . osi

' living on an oak tree '

oneiric scenarios
the badinage of birds
eyes like tranquil ponds
where otterish thoughts dwell
racoons scavenge on boredom
listlessness like sluggish hedgehogs
the impishness of rabbits
the toil of the beavers
the craft of the tailorbirds
the tenderness of fawns
the storybook mysteries
of li'l red riding hoods
in ordinary houses
girls ,wives,moms,grannies
whenever the chips are down
come up with the acorns
of laughter or other goodies
that they hide like squirrels
in the copse of their small worlds ..

/ original / z.g.

ocean.osi

^{yo también espero} ( i also hope )


ocean to ocean
palindromical tides
on this shore of nescience
i crush my tibia fibula
build the keel and the hull
with a drop of my blood
draw one heart
on this paper-boat
sailing into the unknown
only to sink and drown
become the ocean
for that moment of trance
when you hear me in the wave ..

/ original / z.g.

[ Ed : Line 2 - the meaning too , a palindrome ]

windows.osi

window

defenestrate the darkness
ofcourse
but some times you need the darkness
away from the glare
when you require sleep
or try to meditate
it becomes a bridge
to your own self
till a tchotchke brings you back
the windchimes jingle
one returns to the world
or the world returns to one
a bumblebee trapped in the lotus
finds release at dawn
so open the sashes
blossom ..

/ original / z.g.


[ ref:

in ancient sanskrit literature it is stated that a bumblebee gets prisoned inside a lotus flower
... at first light when the lotus opens there is hope of freedom .. but then an elephant uproots the lotus , alas ..
( ie - no release for the bee ) .. but in the above writeup - yes ]

{ Ed : line 6 - or when you meditate }

fragrance.osi

' of woods in the winds '

walled by a silken tablecloth
'neath the dining table
its carved legs of oak
her susurrus woods
smell of deodorant and varnish
from that dreamy retreat
as life woofs and wefts
a toddler crosses the patina
of those ' wonderland ' silks
breaks free of the chrysalis
facing the hints and the scents
of thyme, birch, or balsam
holding inside her lungs
that forest in the breeze

( in about half a breath ) ..

/original /z.g.

inner voice.osi

' no contest '

shape shifting thoughts transfigure
like chameleons camouflage
a trial is on
blindfolded , the heart , adjudicates
there is no colored vision
blows away that smoke screen
my breath
a plea is moved
of nolo contendere
the din of arguments dies
standing on the shores of time
i touch a grain of sand
washed by the waves of life
it coruscates with emotions
seems silent and speechless
speaking the lingo
of every inner voice
seeking a song of love ..

/ original / z.g.

thinking .osi

' dishwashing '

coriander and cardamom
a dash of ajinomoto
the thought'd been deep or shallow fried

morsels of dust from shooting stars
aromas of rain-drenched fresh grass
the salt of the high and wild tides

a solar grace had cooked it all
the dessert of moon was optional
every yummy breath was savored

she washed her dishes with laughter ..


/ original /z.g.


[ Ed :her pulse cooked like a solar flame- line 7 \
the dishes were washed with laughter - line 10 ]

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 ]

tolerance .osi

ny ny

so the clouds of dank thoughts
compressed inside her head
get her steaming again
like a pressure cooker

but she whistles it out
tolerates , lets it go
the vaporous notions
they cook the grains of life

and the controlled burning
leads up to 'nother meal
willing her to survive
the rising systolic

of 42nd street ..

/ original / z.g.

what's it like .osi

( the pain is a - ) phantom


what's it like to be like him

he had viewed pornography
and had read erotica
but also read the bible
and heard the bhagwad gita

he thought of zarathustra
and also of yom kippur
of socrates and qur'an
and existentialism

he knew they knew everything
the thought, yearning and belief
of the poetry of words
the words where he searched for life

and he wondered how they knew
for he was still wondering
'bout him who lived in his mind
someone so much like himself

someone human as you are ..

/original/z.g.

tactile .osi

~ ' her gaze in braille ' ..





i keep groping for words

a tangy nothingness
this palpable ether
it leaves language behind
but works out the meanings

a ripple of rainbows
reverberates with scent
it is only her gaze
that has touched my insides

with no baggage of words ..

/original/z.g.

word.osi

' blah blah '

hermeneutic complexities
dissolve into a gurgling stream
of onomatopoeic giggles
kids of the world laugh as kids would

any place on the planet earth
caw cawing about little things
tick tocking through the drudgery
of dull classroom expositions

hee hawing through an argument
oink oinking about the boredom
plop-plopping or wheezing across
the meanings that lie with the words

ka-ha kuh-uk-ing like a coot
pipit-pipit-ing like pipits
they don't care 'bout the blah blah blah
but live and love as the kids would ..

/original/ z.g.

one word .osi

' hardly a word '

it is merely a syllable

bottling up the largest oceans
housing the hills in shoe boxes
the smallest word of a language

i

wiping all the labels and tags
no matter what the origin
in resonance with all sorrows

i

and when you say that i am small
and dark and silent and lonesome
a wish to see you rising high #

i

for the expressions of one love
this wind,water,fire,earth and sky
go on filling an emptiness

i ..

/original/z.g.

( ED-a wish that wants to see you high / 'rising' replaces 'reaching' # / line 15- 'an' replaces 'this' )

live water .osi

' rain '

beads of honest labour
the poor man's shining pearls
trickle down to the earth
to join a cloud some day

hanging in the darkness
the heat of frozen tears
like drops of molten wax
clinging to a candle

but written in sparkles
the dew is a language
the words that flowers speak
to say they are in love

so hear the live water
its raining cats and dogs
meows and happy barks
of life's pitter patter

this sweat that dew that tear ..

/original/z.g.

LISTENING. osi.

' love '

written or spoken it's love

inaudible undertones
inside alcoholic eyes
reciting every silence
the sorrows soliloquize

the addictive harmonies
of such unquenchable thirsts .
resonating with heartbeats *
fill up the empty glasses

a halcyon moment burns
as a darkness drinks the dusk
one fire dowses another
till the night's awash with dawn

written or spoken it's love ..

/original/z.g

[ED-the different amplitudes-of an unquenchable thirst
-that resonance of heartbeats *-stanza 2 -1st 3 lines
/ last line-just love]

smoke. osi

' fumes '

an arson without fire
minus matchstick or flame
keeps her heart smoldering
as the eyes gather smoke

rings,not always golden #

adrift the rings of grey
are lies being puffed out
of burning cigarettes
forming vicious circles

fumes, in many ways, fog *

cloud on a hill far off
the magic of distance
enhancing the beauty
but one knows volcanoes

have a mind of their own ..

/original/z.g

[past cmnt 10 /# *addendum-rings,not always golden/fumes, in many ways,fog]

equals. (osi)

..' and a poem dies '

this is an african poem

minus anti retrovirals
just blank verses on blank paper
hiv is an eraser
word by word vanishing it all *-

till a blankness equals blankness #-

no,not a jewel in the crown
this blade of grass that glints with dew
from the toils of the earth below
reflecting a dazzling glory

unlike drugs , it's available ..


/original/z.g.

[ ED-

-the words without immunity
get erased by the hiv *-
-and a blankness equals blankness #
--with due respect to sue's pov-just trying to improvise /
line no. 9 : from the mirth of earth down under
line no. 9 :re -ed : dec 18.2009.fri /
- from the toils of earth down under ]

[ the jewel in the crown- a paul scott novel ]

farewells. (osi)

' leaves '

i cannot say farewell
to this splash of color
the perfumes born to spring *
a surprise on my breath

the jazz in the birdcalls
this razzmatazz of green
i know it turns to rust
as it did last autumn

and i said just nothing ..

/original/z.g.

[* ED:-" to the perfumes that spring "]

fork in the road-(osi)

'fragrance'

this seed of existence
forks out into roots
a survival logic
invents its options

thus a living quest
keeps branching upwards
the bifurcations lead
maybe to a dead end

or a destination
of the vibrant green leaf
a happy flower
springing from the earth

on the road to fragrance ..

/orignal/z.g.

circles.(osi)

' adolescence '

little boy time spinning his top

turning the gold and silver wheels
of a teenager's bicycle
rolls on till the end of the road

a pebble of adolescence
drops into the deep still waters
stirs life's unknown eternity

reaching out to embrace the earth
a magical exuberance
ripples in concentric circles

spinning his top little boy time ..


/original/zg

[ED-stanza 3-
' ripples in concentric circles
a magical exuberance
reaches out to embrace the earth ' /

addendum-/ line 1- little boy time spinning his top]

twilight. (osi)

' twilight art '

ballet of the haves and have-nots
visible and invisible
a darkness tangoes with the light

his chiaroscuro options
let the day's hard earned dollar find
some orange juice or black coffee

each dusk is a glowing art work
but alchemies of poverty
simply convert that gold to coal *.

/original/z.g.

[ED-simply convert his gold to coal *..]

spectral .(osi)

' sands '

this trampled sand's a lesser known canvas
here hearty laughters live without a fence
quaint vocabularies of winds and waves
lend to the low profile sorrows credence

so tread lightly over the love stories

soothing this crumbled detritus of time
washing the haunts of a spectral beauty
caressing the lines of a lover's name
written on the shores of a raging sea

waves erase the phantoms of yesterday ..

/original/z.g.

movement.osi

' wall street (2009 AD) '

so the refracted words
let bent realities
ride tergiversations
to travel past meanings

the train alongside moved
static on a still train
commuters sensed a shift
carried by illusion

trusted waters burst banks
the street,a wall to climb
but a bear and a bull
grappled with dance movements ..

/original/z.g.

SLOWLY. (osi.)

' the elusive antithesis of haste '

slowly breaks the dawn,slowly builds the day,slowly thaws a dusk,slowly

kids humanize ' the wall '
graffiti vent kafka
ghettoes upstage beckett
and search for life slowly

slowly raps the wind,slowly rants the rain,slowly grasps a love ,slowly

a chewing gum bubble
how much truth does it hold
young thoughts memories old
exhaled inhaled slowly

slowly steps the soul,slowly flows the pulse ,slowly rocks a breath ,slowly

bach strains in peacock cries
flowers with van gogh hues
passions in the fragrance
would come to life slowly

slowly falls the night ,slowly skips the moon ,slowly rolls a star,slowly

/original/z.g.

['the wall':pink floyd ~musician ~ " We don't need no education - We dont need no thought control -
- No dark sarcasm in the classroom " - -
// Franz Kafka (1883-1924). -. ' Czech-born German-speaking writer whose posthumously published novels express the alienation of 20th century man & whose works explore the existential philosophy of the absurd and the surreal ' // Beckett, Samuel : playwright-poet~ "he presents the experience of waiting and struggling with a pervading sense of futility" & portrays "The anguish of persisting in a meaningless world " ]

if only i had time.(osi)

' fractured hourglass '

face the blues in irises fine
gaze at an infinitude shine
interface with galactic joys
without purpose,reason or rhyme

if only i had time

hitchhiking on nomadic clouds
a way away from 'madding crowds' *
join a shamen or the maci
shadow a lion in his prime

if only i had time

grasp the fun of a grizzly roll
watch a giant panda cajole
and bend a bamboo shoot so green
as laughter becomes life's enzyme

if only i had time

count the stairs at khajuraho
ascend the hills of idaho
in a consciousness of no curbs
echo that one moment sublime

if only i had time

assimilate the words unfurled
in an ordinary people's world
and look for splinters of the heart
in a rubble of dreams and grime

if only i had time ..

/original/z.g.

[khajuraho~temples of india built during 9th-11th century AD -divinity sculpted in intimate postures~symbolizing 'the attainment of the spiritual through the physical'/khajuraho hosts a festival of classical indian dance forms annually * Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)~ Thomas Hardy]

fading memories.(osi)

' that sepia autumn'


a pulse reverberating
with the whims of the lifeforms
a heart's wildernesses locked
in love's untoned negatives

till the darkroom of those eyes
delivers the living truths
washed in the lunar silver
done positive as daylight

letting crestfallen vowels
inked on my paper-boat fade
and drown in the amnesia
of time's lethean drop of dew ..

/original/z.g.
[image courtesy:designedtoat]

a summer's day. (osi)

' whims on my paper boats '

inverting winter's viduity
this highway is a golden ray
changing lingos of the earth's spin
a warm cadence of gypsy winds

all icy unspoken sorrows
become warblers or the swallows
in a festival of twitters
the banter of aster petals

ripples home a blue resonance
distant yachts like boats of paper
etched with the solar alphabet
of a summer day's nostalgia ..

/original/z.g.

skin .(osi)

' underneath an onion '

for love poured from a cloud's skin
souls drenched like a rainforest
wet clothes set beings afire
so green was the yellow leaf

earthy sensualities
the impulse of a caress
fondled by a gentle wave
every craving grain of sand

from behind the freckles peeked
winter suns and summer moons
each wrinkle a narrative
voicing an ode,lament,song

the mind peeled an onion *
skin after skin after skin
searching for elusive truths
existing somewhere beyond ..

/original/z.g.

*
[the notion of 'peeling an onion' can be referred to-

1Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa~Precepts (1836-1886)
2Gunter Grass's Peeling the Onion / memoir
3Ruth Gordon Peeling the Onion: An Anthology of Poems
4Peeling the Onion - Wendy Orr
5Peeling the Onion; Poems of Spiritual Awakening: George, E James
& possibly more] (-lines 3,4,7 &15-edited/april18.09 /-
-further ED - peek & peels > peeked -peeled -april19.09 )