}} From an ongoing cycle of poems on Kashmir post 5th August |

Poetry at Sangam

SangamHouse

 










From an ongoing cycle of poems on Kashmir post 5th August

I
 
under a
blindfolded moon
the night       with blank eyes
          gropes its way in silence

 
 
 

II

the city shuts out the silver light of the moon
 
the ravens
          circle the night
          their cries drowning the dirges

 
 
 

III

nobody knew
            no one
                      those shadows        the ones that had been stolen
                                from each     and every
 
                      one
 
                                of us
 
turned their backs    walked into the sun
          as if    at gunpoint
 
each   and every
 
                      one
 
                      not a single
                      one               made itself visible
 
                      not one
 
            nothing        out of the ordinary
                      had happened

 
 
 

IV

the weight of the fading twilight

           sent
the feet scurrying
           slam shut      the city like cards crumbling

its wings frosted      with afterthought
           the day           drifts
                      past the shadows       a long night
           the wind blows cold

nobody
           ventures out on to the
                      the cobblestoned street
hit hard
           by the light of the full moon
 
 
 

the raven
refuses
to fly
preferring instead
to play hopscotch
with the midwife

 
 
 

V

knotted stories     of betrayal
float
          upon the mirror of the lake

 
there are no longer boatmen
skilled
          in the art of steering clear of the hyacinths
 
 

in the dark waters
          lotus takes root

 
 
 

VI

the beads frayed from remembering      the repetition
          refuses          to ease the mourning
frayed also the thread
                      made red       well before the great bleeding

the raven who refused to fly in an earlier poem
          preferring instead
to play hopscotch    with the midwife
          finds one of his wings pinned to his own shadow

the poet with the missing tooth
          his breath gasping   like a choked whistle
sings out of tune    his voice drowned
by the sound of gunfire

the child in the gray phiran       looks
          intently at the camera
          her fists
full of clenched pebbles

 
in a photograph left in the dust the vultures have ‘fallen prey to human
callousness’
            at least on the risingkashmirwebsite

 
 
 

VII

in this valley of echoes
a grieving silence resides

 
 
 

VIII

the chinars have begun to shed their leaves
           in this garden without light

 
 
 
elsewhere in the city

 
the streets are strewn with stones
           plucked untimely

from receding shadows

 
 
 

IX

solitarymoon
whirling
           like an exiled dervish

the eyelids of a world
           swollen
           by induced sleep

drugged         its dance
           the dream
           went shopping for a shroud
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
← Naveen Kishore