Music Must Sound - A Collection of Poems

1

A poem is


like life

sound


and silence

movement


and stillness

fragment


and wholeness

avibhiktam


vibhakteshu

like Shiva


and Shakti

lotus


and mud

2

I thought I knew her before and my heart bowed to her native virtues


each touch she offered stirred and drew me near


before entering her depths I felt how dark was the dance


I never liked to part with her but the tears in her eyes were saying: 'no, no'

3

Your face lights up my dark chamber


the moon reclines on my bosom


this evening steals your fragrance

4

I want to rest in your lap


and drink your golden breasts


hide me in the curtain of your hair


shield me in the grove of your flesh

5

Won't you share


my aloneness


tonight?

I need


female smell


in bed

let's kiss


each other in our


strangeness

6

When Renoir or Cezanne or Matisse or Picasso


can play with body and capture the soul


why not poets draw on beauty in darkness


and speak in the language of Body, or write all

that animals do and men conceal in light


the aching peace must gets sway


good or bad what's empty must be filled


if life vibrates music must sound

7

Call it spoof


or nirvana


if you like

hidden between thighs


is the spring music


beyond birth

8

A myth


like prejudice


is turned lovely


with rituals


when we search


faith


against ourselves


in ourselves

9

A flying horse perched


on the island of her flesh


without conquering the ocean:

whirlwinds galloped


his funeral parade


between the cracks

10

Singing the rituals of flesh


midst the sound of frogs


and owls by the window


I bury my sultry night


in the mosquito-net

11

Stooping over his gravid love


while he neared the coital bliss


the little child woke up


with erect penis cried


to spoil sex she slipped aside


and put out her breast to feed him


in semi-darkness virility foiled


the slough face down

12

In the blue space of mind


Winny plays her games


as in waking hours


weaving shapes in holy precincts


I recover my lost child


and the old priest calls me back


with a pearl to save my soul:


dulcet sounds ring again to celebrate


my move above the nights

13

The dress hides


undress


and you look beautiful

14

A stray sperm


grows in the ovum


blooms as a puffball

15

How hard we try to empty


the vessel that holds our seed


in her deep pleasure turns painful


causes depression after two children


we want non-creative sex:


now clean cobwebs that hold red flow


to release our post-lunch tension

16

Leaves fall


in a dust-ridden city

stars grin and body burns


vultures hover all round


passions breed in pigsty


she has shaved chromosomes

under a bloody roof


my tattered trousers remind


the bedsheets love stained


before light shone

in a sulphurous pond


I display


my naked person


to ghosts and witches

17

When I read the eyes of darkness


and loneliness in my room


I slip into my bed and unbutton


with a craving of the malpakara


knowing well when


it's not a girl or wife


sexploitation is no sin

18

Every stain on the bed speaks


of offence done to


self, lover, sweetheart


I am reminded of acts


day and night


and pretend


hot tea from my cup


has scattered

19

Once your body was the sitar waiting for my touch


the sweet fragrance of your hair still lingers


but the cigarette that was mine is now ash

20

Islands grow like mounts


in the midst of the sea


my palm I full of circles and triangles


my fate I know too well


the crone ready to cast


a new Judgment of Paris

on the mount of Venus


is an apple


I wonder if my wife


too has sensed it

21

Giggling behind the hill


is the woman I knew


if you touch my finger


you shall know


what winter is

22

Naked


without ring


my finger


a widow

23

Darkness is a whore


I sleep with


cross-legged

without copulation


last night parted


with sinking acid

24

Road to VD through


Assembly of God over the bridge


flying cars of the State


on walls slogans of commercial gods


and the name of Gandhi shadowed


by the crossed trees near Hydel


DANGER board shifts


my gaze to veiled beauties


moving like thoughts


with the best of motives


manoeuvre to kill a poet


learning the secret of


the first menstrual flow

25

Dancing on the top of the tower


his religious fans plan to erect


Shiva's phallus as token of love


turn kaned all men and women

before union the tower collapses


with their guru they fall into the forest


and rise again as apes the third day

26

The bearded swamy's


vedantic discourse


goes over head


in empty solitude


he speaks


as a dying man


to dying men

27

Mute pavements


shelter meditators


in milky silence

passing beauties


denuded in water


skin shrinks

at the Ganges in Kartik


old gods leer at


their wet bare backs

in bleeding cold


'aum' is convenient


to soothe vasanas


no more Ashwapathys please


they're hung up, racing in jet


to catch two white moons

28

What's this sadhana


that he throws the bowl


at a man in the circle


and he dies instantly?

But I look for the jackal


escaping his aim

29

Simulating mysticism


they fill the hollows


through jugglery


conceal their


fractured faith

30

The night died


for nobody trimmed


the wick of lamp

31

A monkey turned the coat


to let off snakes


hidden in velvet lining

32

One by one


when the lamps are put out


every floor is dark


in this house

33

Calculating fate


through zodiac maze


last night I discovered


a dotty god rising


out of a dead oyster

34

The night drips


from their faces


like the rains

assails my vision

I fail to distinguish


man from beast

35

When there's no market for most speech


who'll read my loose ramblings:


it's silly to wander far off


to designs to dismiss reality


or configurations called poetry

36

In mind


his eyes fire


his images


nightmare


the poor soul


in scorpion cage


cannot brave


the dark combats

37

I dig my mind to


unmemory the past


and become voice and time


to redeem the icy sun

to wake up the hibernating wind


long blid to dust


swirling in shapes


under emergency light

coloured virtues on sale


reflecting the night of bodies


craving burial in the thicket


of cosmetic hair

in dull music about me


flesh-eaters starving for the soul


as I kill an arrogant


snake at my door

38

The golden orb


through pricking trails


from east to west


concentrates dark


in life love separates


to upset balance


waking and sleeping


I look up and purge


static madness

39

After these hot noons


the earth


mates with rainbow


I breathe my son's smile


and forget the darkness growing

40

This evening's smile


seems conspiring with floating shadows


swains rehearse in dark corners


with cigarettes


I simply gobble the scene

41

The webs that hide still time


I must clean and banish


Saul from my home:


His bait is subtle

I must work out my salvation


and find again the bread of life


through the maze of rootlessness


fragmented memories and finger prints

the faceless figures in the dark


mock with amputated legs


in the museum eternity is locked:


I must rise again before extinction

42

Smoke rises from the church


Christ burns gradually


the ultimate dust rests


in His hands


for recreation


of a new lamb

43

The race of life


with an awful shadow


anterior or posterior—to darkness:

I am only moving


in the crowd of roads


in search of a road

44

Across the brown woods


I climb the naked hills


where tempests can't reach


nor waves rise to collapse

my being watches the evening star


hanging through heaven I lose


and find again the snowy light


transposing crimson arc in east

nobody sees the lotus smile


the calm behind the chaos


fleeting breaths commemorate


hopes of eden on earth

a mystic repose or agony


I don't know blooms, flows


or overwhelms world's soul


in me time weds eternity

45

I don't know the little beauty


my son curiously chases

in the wild flowers


butterfly is angelic


fleeting each time


he reaches to catch

46

Stars on the earth these glow-worms


I want to clasp in hand and offer


God as flowers of


obeisance

47

The sun sheds its radiance


over the hills as if


they water the slope with blood


to keep the eternal green


the deciduous days near end


I see the sheol rising


upon the ocean of spring


many unmoor to sail


many draw in the womb of air

48

There is a road in the forest


I haven't trampled yet


a light glows always

for a fresh touch in planet's belly


I look out from my suspended window


and they say there is nothing

the hungry skin for an avalanche


and parabolic movement in space


don't translate my existence

on paints their homage coeval


with icy expectations I stand


and feel the warmth Death brings

49

The blue hillocks look at the vegetation below


green forests, orchids, firs and pines smile


over the rocky slopes horses graze and


down below a river teems with fishes


in the Land of Dragon Paro is a bride


beautiful, angelic, loving


everyone cherishes her matutinal grace


I love her, and love the mastoid mountains


of Druk Yul, a greater heaven on earth

50

The road never runs


straight in mountains


life means hazards

my line of fate runs


straight and smooth yet


roses bloom with thorns

51

There is no tree


over the mountain


I rest in shade


of a wandering cloud

52

It is not the surf


by the sea I watch


the crashing waves


on the shore I hear


the music of the wind


that stirs my soul:


you shut your eyes


and feel at home

53

The rock stands midst the sea


bulls of Bashan beset me


with snares of death


floods rise and go:

dark waters turn bright


waves touch my feet


the shepherd washes me clean


midst the sea rock stands

54

Scooped in the belly


of a huge airbus


it's only sunset

55

Locked in giant Chandragupta


I fly over snow stacked stones


and defy clouds in unseen sun

56

He walks through the high walled narrow lanes


where children play with dead or dying dogs


that eat their own stinking flesh


he sees them sitting over the running wheels


murdered innocence peep out from windows


but no one bothers the tragic turn

57

Connaught Place, Janpath and Parliament Street look


like a platform of some busy railway station here


night is the same as day people run after


the buses or wait with their burdens


pushing or kicking insidiously doing all


mischiefs in and out I see


attempts to hide something insignificant


and so important goes uncared


my messianic dream welters on the bleeding breasts of Delhi


Playboys and Penthouses cry "Mai? Mai?"


with hold-me-tight arguments of the saucy sweet


I hear the mosaic deafs and dumbs telling


whither goes my Sinai?

58

Rouged faces of working girls


in DTC buses give


frustration


black joys of life


taking turns


against red lights


on the road

59

They board and alight


like the birds flying


from trees in the morning


wander without signature


in the evening


get lost in dark

60

After a tortuous journey left alone


a homeless wanderer comes


to the land of mines following


the dream-chandan and –geru in can


rusted stones and square smile


pelicans pictured at Nalsarovar


against a blissful clime he sues


black dusts and pollution without


going down the earth on way


spots places and people secretly


appeared many a time crawling


on a minotaurs belly intumesced


he thinks the machine is overworked


in yawning hours he eats


goats' testicles and omelette to green


his nocturnal craze invaginates


the blues of a road, it's vugs and turns


deo volente he treks for better

61

I play that I'm happy


like a child secretly complain

waking before the sun


I feel my taste and warm myself


against a rain of smoke

it smells only foul


like the toilet near my room

62

Crushed heads of serpents coil along the road


green glitter of stream strikes my vision


I walk and fear the growing ripples in urinal

63

I don't see crows


turn into cuckoos


or herons into swans


in this jungle


viruses haunt


air and water

no Agastya rises


from the pitcher


no holy man changes


the corrupt roots

ignorance feeds faith


all around


rahus eclipse moon


and gurus


like comets grow


to sink life


in wild ocean

64

Going down the dark corridor


I breathe smog in the morning


walking is a quick dose to death:

traffic roars though invisible now


black layers rest on leaves


where is fresh air?

I cough my allergies and swallow pills


To live in a safer tomb

65

The Thames tolerates


bridging so much


I fear one day


she'll disappear


leaving behind


a nullah known


only to MPs


or intruders


in Queen's bedroom

66

The Ganges condescended


to flow down from Shiva's matted hair


with white laughter


from the Himalayas to Kashi


it shone so pure and bright


but failed to quench


the earthly thirst


or cleanse the human heart


their sinful mind


the goddess couldn't change


I clearly see in its apparent grace


missing all turbulence


so necessary to wash out


the ilss of ages it seems


it's lifeless now


impotent to set right


the rotten state of man

67

Young girls and women move up and down


in the boat standing on the river bank


they carry sand for their bread


and fling down the basket, sun smoulders

men sit on the terrace and smoke hashish at noon


crack private jokes, watch sullen grace


the drowsy river flows with the city's garbage

68

Is there enough water to quench


my body burns within


the little liquid's restless


and the black doctor awaits


a handful ashes


to propitiate Shiva


the red eyes deride


my passionate labour


and the scourge sears each bone


it seems I'm dumb rock


no Christ will call a church


yet the flames rise


high in sky burn


burn


what can I do


if there is no water?

69

I fear the desert in sky


and hate clouds on hills


I doubt rain is potent


earth is wined by whores

70

When things were good and happy


I knew the lofe of all


now nobody knows me here

71

Love or friendship in this land


is a hoax


each morning and evening


my tent is set afire


and they say


night is illumined

72

It turns my lips blue


and fingers freeze in icy wave


I breathe frost and shiver

in the coldest ever Delhi


get up before every one and move out


for bread

73

They say


I'm a good person


plain and simple

a poet suffering


at the hands


of evil persons

like Christ


crucified with


thieves beside

and didn't he cry


"Eloi! Eloi!


lama sabachthani?"

I cry at the 19th hour


of a sour day


"O God, O God"

74

Doctor Chakroverty


damned Mrs Gandhi


damned Nixon


damned politics


called them rogues


when I said


they're fools


he said


no

75

An ideal minister


is a miracle of cunning


like the jackal in fables


who ate the heart


and ears of the ass


only to say


like the fox that ate


the deer's heart


and declared later


it hadn't any

76

Mr Dange lauds


action against smugglers


and accepts a purse of


4.5 lakhs from working people


on his birthday


I wonder how masses


subsisting on 36 paise


could collect such a dough

77

The best


of seven nations hanging


in her closet because


she's the wife


of a senior bureaucrat

78

Splendid


these rats


enjoy favours


give nothing


receive all

79

The telephone receiver


like a hooded snake


pretty, but full of poison

80

The dance about light


humming mosquitoes


in the evening


griefs can't be trimmed


if stings are deep:


night lurks on concerns


of the day between


surpluses and scarcities


I scratch tissues


of impairing events


or bite the curly language


to redeem hollow inside


dread of dying sun


and insects outside conspire


against wind that burrs the leaves


of years (or spiders' net


in annually-cleaned corners?)


shacked up, in a shambles now


stamped with mosquitoes blood


my palms conceal failures


I can never erase


I can't recover light


buried in a grave


it's difficult


to keep form and flow

81

Sceptical yet innocent I look below the flyover


deserted landscape overrun by chained dogs and bitches while


parasites walk leisurely on the solitary road


I long to talk to someone

the sky is blind and mute


too are the directions hollow winds


blow over my head with frozen


fingers I negotiate budding leaves

images blister under yellow skins


I see cold shadows at dusk


read new myths and metaphors


in vain defy months old exile

82

Civilization


in a poor nation


is death by


methyl isocynate

hanging heavily


by multinational grace


in the cold night

each house turns a mortuary


mixing the dead and the dying


and the living turning blind

only fossils snivel

dreams dustmingle


broken visions lock


wide sky in ice-blue eyes

what have we left?

nothing remains


and none live to watch


the grand finale


of human achievement

83

The sun is indifferent there


the moon doesn't weep


in Beirut butchered children


and bulldozed bodies testify


to man's savage growth


from Moses to Mohammad


ideals and dreams breed slaughter


for existence barbarians


need cosmetic excuses?

84

We decry


discrimination


of the sort


we practice


at home:

in Calcutta


if lifts don't carry


"Servants, dogs, and luggage"


why grudge


the South African notices


"dogs and natives


are not allowed"?

85

It's outrageous


with headless heads


and paper tigers


roaring from the top

and cows resting in the porch


or listening to lectures


and dogs and goats roaming in the verandah


it's a cattle's paradise

humanities courtyard


is a litter of puppies and paper plates


after the seminar


they pretend to get mired in textbooks

who can stop the wheel


if it performs well


and the punctures stay unseen

86

Who will sing for you


in the street


when all your life


you ballooned words


in coffee houses


or the offices


to create epic


with scratchy jargon?

Now watch


your black mushrooms


grow wild


in the drawing room

do you fear


your shark teeth


in action?

87

I am a man


if you want to see


your image


you'll see


your distortion only

88

What's this


music of life


vibrating but


soundless?