PlumingPoetree

Hong Kong Disneyland, 2023 Fear feeds all paranoiaTill comfort of safety achesGreed spells a reckless hungerThat ferociously salivates Is that hopeThat drives them both?Is it a sense of purpose?What is life without either –Identity in crisis? Complacency cannot win growthWhen survival is a raceWhen that blackhole of belongingIs scrounging for a place And even then, to saveWhat little is left…

Grandpa’s Winter Garden, 2022 Time has been harsh yet so very kindIts memories well vintaged in my mind There is a grace to every ageLessons turning page after page The stage set to throw wide the netThat seldom catches errant regret Then a sweep of mindless mindfulnessPuts all off-beat crises to rest Till wrinkles crease only the mindAt thirty, I barely pull off twenty five There is…

My heart beatsExcitement thrumsIt’s a different worldHere I come! I tell myselfIt will be different this timeBut immediately,Strobe lightsFrazzle my eyesWhile DJ Dread Drum bleatsAnd music drowns beneath;Encore breeds even more cacophony. Malarkey’s depths barely letMy words break furore,Regardless,Every answering breathLiquors mine unbearably more. Still I smileStill I grooveBe only as…

Every time I sneezeWithin and beyondMy morning allergies,I feel like I am losingA little piece of me. Every time I coughAnd irritate my palateIrascibly rough,I wonder when it’s goingTo be enough. Every time my sinusesSwell up and clogMy passages,Only time can sootheThe intractable ravages. For pain is painAnd itch is itch –Sharp or dull or faint – as such,When all weapons fail, The touchOf…

Fires burn brightBehind eyes shut tight,Smoke spills regretSooted with fright.The face of nightmaresSoddens with despair,And dream curdling screamsScald the seams of aftercare. Reflections of Today – Akanksha Gupta

I can breathe,But with each breathUneaseSweeps through Guts twist and churn,Conscious thrums the chestOff beatAt every turn When empty,Hunger gnawsWith clawsThat painfully feed When bloated,Even the rot of despairClotsTo never weep And when breathless,Though gusts of airFlail piteously I can still breathe I can always breathe But the still in the airWaylays the mindDistills the…

Our tour guide wove a brilliant narrative, adding to the reverential mysticism of Sarnath