MANNEQUINS

Out of blanks,
We grew trails, the night
Passing by, melancholic
Sighs, unheard, shards of
Melting gestures peeking 
Through slits of ossified
Ennui, we felt jerks in
The casuarinas, dry
Rustles, inadvertent mergers with
Murk, concourses without
Fidgety footfalls

In a boulevard, ensconced,
Under the belly of
A barren tower, chlorinated
Ambiance eating up
Patience, we waited,
Exhausted gasps, whispers,
Fumbles assuming the pitch of
Prayer, till silhouettes of silence
Could catch one another by calls

(© DEEPAK DARSHAK)

CHLORINATION

Words reek

Inside me, with

A heap of

Fractured meanings    

Clean me, o silence!

If I can't throw
Them away,

Let me have
The strength to
Dissolve them 

(© DEEPAK DARSHAK) 

REIFICATION

Raw notions

Go missing

In the theatre of

Hell

An array of

Double-domes and

Longhairs have

Replaced the mavericks

With a streak of

Orchestrated confusion,

And their aging

Makes the night thicken

And swell

© DEEPAK DARSHAK

ANONYMITY: I LIKE PLAYING IT...

Anonymity is
A game

I play this
To reduce 
The burden of
Discovering a name

(© DEEPAK DARSHAK)

JULY SHOWERS IN DELHI: 2015

Wheels 
Have stopped moving,
Mechanism of life going
Haywire, 
Delhi weeps and pukes 
And turns into a
Quagmire
© DEEPAK DARSHAK

ADAPTABILITY

Loneliness

No longer

Turns her off

She has learnt

How to converse with

The shadows surrounding her presence

© DEEPAK DARSHAK 

ACCULTURATION

A large, imposing chair      

Growls, guffaws, gravitates at intervals,  

Thickening the air with

An unusual mode of

Pelvic interaction

   

Corpulent personification of
A metonymic comfort 
Occupying the centrestage,

Changes the culture of sitting

For all the smaller, lighter chairs   

Surrounding it

© Deepak Darshak

DERACINATION

After a long siege,  

The Black River

Has decided to

Pull back its

Hungry waters, 

Leaving the ground

Crowded with

Colourful objects….

Marbles,

Cowries,

Slippers,

Hand fans,

Saucers,

Earthen pots,

Skillets,

Bowls,

Broken reeds of

A harmonium,

Severed hand of

An armchair 

Standing by

The rubble,

An old couple

Remembers the

Faces behind them

With a vision  

Blurred by a flood

In the eyes  

© Deepak Darshak