INSECURITY

I zoomed far

Into the pathless firmament

ON MY BLINDNESS

Light half way doused

But not the fire inward.

RATTRAP

Where’s kitchen, and where’s toilet in this shack?

Is there a nook here for god?

Is there a room for her to rap her saree?

Where shall she breastfeed her last one?

Is this called a floor on which she’s sitting now?

Holes, holes, up and down;

Up for rain to shower its curse

And down for bugs and worms to wriggle at night.

But how does a rat covet this floorless shack?

Didn’t they inform it this shack lies below poverty line?

Rat knows how to feed its stomach

What if she hasn’t considered the rat as her family member?

You might also find this rat in a millionaire’s flat tomorrow

But today,

The rat wants, it wants her food

She thinks of a rattrap to woo

And kill the rat, keeping a piece of coconut

As a draw, but what will she do

When her little girl cries of hunger?

She’s trapped now.

TOLERANCE PRACTICED

Kahlil, you learnt tolerance

From the intolerant.

Save I, all went to Island House

For an expo and returned.

At the round table, we dined

That hard core Christian snickered,

“These people are fools; they worship ghosts!”

“Worshiping Ghosts?” I stammered, perplexed.

And he replied,

“It was a Hindu temple.”

I felt an axe hewing my heart

My blood boiled but

I dropped my head and resumed eating

No retorts from me; he smirked and did so his friend.

I practiced tolerance, felt

High for not having gone low to hit him.