ASIDE

Jelly beans don’t melt fast enough

On the tongue,

But the tiny dust of saccharine does….

To keep my tongue

In good humour

And immune to

Diabetic premonitions,

I am planning pretexts

To downsize the dominion of

My sweet tooth

Without harming

The territorial integrity of

Its flexible preferences    

(© DEEPAK NIKUNJ)

A NAKED REQUEST

     "There is much to support the view that it is clothes that wear us, and not we, them."
                                                                                                                                               

         

                                                                                        --------- Virginia Woolf



   

 Wear me, clothes,

Hide me from

The eyes of the day,

I have tailored

The profiles of

My nakedness,

So painstakingly,

To suit your

Expanses

(© DEEPAK NIKUNJ)

DEARNESS

Brand new electronic dependables

In colourful apparels,

Wait throughout the day

Before sinking in the

Shuttered lap of

Subterranean godowns,

Wallets, battling with

Domestic sores,

Appear to have

Unfriended them  

And forgotten the way

To the market

© DEEPAK NIKUNJ

MARATHON

      Aching bones,

Tiring muscles,

Drying throat,

Limping gait,

A pair of sweating feet

Undergoing a searing

Coal tar ordeal….

Clouds! Come out

And hide the burning Sun,

Unleash your showers,  

Create a pond,  

Groves! Spread about,

For the journey of

The lonely pedestrian has

Many long miles,

Still too many  

To unfold 

      © DEEPAK NIKUNJ

THE HAIRY INDEX

Young balding heads are fast

Outnumbering  

Those with dense crops of hair,

It seems our city is growing,

Either in terms of

A thinking population,

Or in terms of

Patients infected with

Visceral or gastroenteritic disorders,

Or maybe

Because pickpockets have learnt to

Make off with yuppie hair

And successfully sell it at

High prices

In underground marts 

© DEEPAK NIKUNJ