in memoriam

since her passage on november 23rd 2010 my mother is physically absent .. her love for flowers, plants, theater, the arts , life and people is all around me.. in every expression of love that i come across i should find her resonance ..

( smt. pragnya mukerjee b: 31st august 1927 )

in memoriam

my father always thought of himself as a theater person - { first and last ) --

his livelihood or occupation was that of a bureaucrat

his acting endeavours spanned from 1934 to 2004

it is safe to describe him as a passionate amateur theater artist

i am a part of him and he remains a part of me ..

in remembrance

shashank shekhar mukerjee ( april 7 1922 - september 9 2010 )

aura. osi

' insomnia '


tranquilizing voicings with a tender aura
anesthetic, analgesic, soporific

the phonetics were simple,the diction was soft
the cadence was warm and the season was summer

captives to a melody we heard in silence
the psychedelics of the moon on the sea shore

the night was a denial of reality
erasing the nightmare of a sweltering day

it is not tactile and it is not tangible
and only with closed eyes can i see that aura ..

original / z.g.

[ Ed : Line 10 - and i have to close my eyes to see that aura ]

Note :

Dear friends & co-writers at OSI ,

Unavoidable circumstances compel me to take leave from participating further at our Dear Meme for an indefinite period. Writing at my Blogs Somewhere Beyond & Insanity in Sanity is also on a halt.

While feigning to be a writer all the while I learnt so much from each one of you, & there is not a single writer to whom I do not owe my thanks , so kindly forgive me for not mentioning any of you by name. I think of all of you as my worthy classmates
& owe my gratitude to each one of you.

Please believe me when I say that I do not have the heart that would hurt a Poet .Still if you have reason to believe that I have caused you pain I believe you will forgive me with a smile .

I am sure you will continue to bring joy and richness to the lives of your readers through your contributions to One Single Impression _ The Meme I was always proud to be a part of ..

Zoya Gautam

Monday March 29 2010

http://horizonnext.blogspot.com/

http://insane2bsane.blogspot.com/

murmur.osi

' laundry '

i have often seen them
dangling from the clotheslines
something worn or worn out
a woman's flimsy gown
voicing an unknown longing
those blue collared denims
articulating toil
a toddler's nappies
shouting unrestrained joy
old faded pyjamas
rumbling of arthritis ,
that wild floral t shirt
oscillates adolescence ,
while the wind goes along
each pocket and hollow ,
through the pillow covers ,
reliquaries of truth ,
or blueprints of aches
and ecstatic moanings
made of ordinariness
murmured to oneself
and vaporized in thin air ..

original / z.g.

[Ed: Line 13 - oscillating adolescence
Line 14 - the wind does go along ]

hesitation.osi

' azure agonies '


i let my thoughts go
winding across ground zero
from an empty nothingness
down a labyrinth of blues
through the twin towers
of many stories
of many voices
of many colors
where they held the placards
where they lit the candles
bracing the something-ness of life
from where a dove flies
and merges into the ether
of a limitless blue space
i know it looks the same
from wherever you are ,
i open the window
unsurely, hesitatingly
to let the sky in ..


original / z.g.

[ Ed : Line 4 - down a labyrinth of pain ]

Ref :

( To - - - mark the International Day of Peace, renowned primatologist and humanitarian Dr. Jane Goodall - - visited Ground Zero with a small group that included the Reverend Lyndon Harris, formerly of St. Paul’s Chapel - - the little chapel that stood through 9/11 and served as a relief center for workers who toiled many months at Ground Zero.The group flew Giant Peace Dove puppets at the site, to express their desire for a world where war and violence are things of the past - - )

 [ additional reading _ for-our-world-a-poem-written-on-9 / 11-by-mattie-stepanek_ the boy poet ]

running .osi

' marathon '


the bills go through the roof
prices sting like a bee
costs pinch like a cranky shoe
paucity tries to hide
beneath a frayed carpet
the curtain is opaque
but the news slips through
the hole in the pocket
cleverer than a stitch
the steam in the oven
cooks up the tempers
running out of hand
with no finishing line
when you run a family ..

original / z.g.


( Ed : line 1 - bills go over the rooftop
line 7 -but the news gets through )

insomnia .osi

[ To Every Child Affected By War ] _

^{' psychosis '} _{- [ baghdad ]}

a thousand wailing violins
the din of rusted noises
gestating silences
the wolf moon of winter
empty deserted streets
of a war torn city
countless luminous blinks
flickers in an ageless night

nameless agonies
plain faced sorrows
fireworks of a shooting star
sirens of the night patrol
a little child shrieking ,
what keeps them awake ,
while sleep intrudes reality
with a dream or a nightmare ..

original / z.g.

gold .osi

' life '

they all come in gold
foxes and fishes
birds and the flowers ,
i live in a children's story ,
a blonde priestess of hope
hands me the morning ,
crooked magicians play
tricks in a shadowplay ,
toy soldiers like gi joe
keep track with the sun
buddies like pinocchio
letting lose the fun ,
time enters
on a trojan horse ,
yellowing me with age ,
i keep growing old
but never grow up ..

original / zg

[ Ed : Line 1 - scattering the gold ]

single.osi

' addresses '


jackals howl a mystery
the leaves rustle with longing
the winds sigh for no reason
crickets talk to the heavens ,
a maze of stars shimmers
like fireflies burning
a night of moonlessness ,
it could be anything
love , illusion or nothingness ,
just what is it ,
roads of black tarmac
like a dark night
insomniacal
run through the city
from house to house , door to door
where the answers live ..

original / z.g.

[ Ed ; Line 4 - the crickets add a chorus ]

blowing the curve.osi

' ECG '

an arc , a line and a dot
build a question mark ,
to understand curves
see how the river flows ,
find that the clock is still
but the pendulum swings ,
trapezing through dawn and dusk
light and shade boomerang ,
watch the skyscraping neons
stabbing the night with purple
with fluorescent blues ,
like spectral cardiograms,
like jagged price indices
shadowing the passers by ,
who turn and twist and bend
negotiating the curve
of the cost of living ..

original / z.g.

[ Ed : Line 4 - flow like the river ]

sunny days

' sunflowers '

drop this vacant straw of thought
into a lemonade noon
let the clothes evict dampness
while the seagulls keep diving
for a sun below the sea

let the robins rob the day
a shilling's worth of brightness
and squander it for nothing
on the eldritch rooftops
of forgotten barnhouses

shifted from the pavements
and sidewalks of the city
without the power to act
to speak , think or change things
watch them bloom and wither

like a smile on the faces ..


/ original / z.g.

chaos

' vacuum ' -


haiti ,
the quake fractures everything
splitting the earth
collapsing the brick and mortar
like loose trousers
sliding down a child's legs ,
wherever you look
disintegration
chaos ,
the words have cracked too ,
i slip through the chasms
get past comprehension ,
soaked into the eyes of a kid
with no inkling of death
or life ,
i am trapped inside
a still(-ed) image ,
incoherent
disjunct
numb ,
the questions
they would come ,
where is mom
where is dad ,
not finding them around
she would look for her doll ,
buried below the debris
with the memories . .


/ original / z.g.


[ haiti _ tues jan 12 - 2010 - quake ]

( Ed : Line 18/19 - paralyzed / disarticulated ? )

indurated.osi

' earthen '


ruddy waters flow
to the beat of an udu
the rhythm of the djembe
breaking the shales of sorrow ,
feel the rusty brown mud
in the kiln of a potter ,
arroyos of fire and air
run through the clay ,
crushed,kneaded and burnt,
as if in a volcano ,
to reach a creation
a void of fullness
indurated but tender ,
bearing the salt of life ,
turning my breath into song
an ocarina
this ancient flute of clay ..


/ original / z.g.

( udu - djembe : drums of clay
ocarina - clay flutes with origins going back to the mayan civilization )

[ Ed : Line 5 - into rusty brown mud ]

wings .osi

' airborne '

darkness
burns a candle
melting icarean dreams ,
on the earth
the white wings of winter
a goose carved in snow ,
undulating greens
fields of wheat , fields of maize
parrots in the sun ,
verses in terracotta
bathing in the dust
mud colored sparrows ,
how the shadows grow
see crow after crow ,
the first roseate ray
a golden eagle freed ,
on the earth
my childhood scrapbook
without any wings
just fallen feathers
and a pageful of sky ..

/ original / z.g.

( edited & rearranged )