Shaku Selvakumar

The act of standing On shifting ground Takes two legs planted Firmly Slightly defiantly Slightly humble Arms relaxed Stomach held in Chest held out Shoulders squared Chin up Eyes bright Forehead clean Breath even Head Heart Hips Stand tall In your wisdom Stand up For yourself For others For the young For the mute For the small For the old For the weak Understand. ~Shaku Selvakumar, July 2016  …

  Art from vladimirkush.comI walked into the fire   I walked into the fire Before I was born again The heat was searing But the heart knew no pain I knew I would return To finish what I started And seek you out Worship you in turn To be seen through mine eyes Turning anger to love Chaos contained Fury tamed Balance regained Shiva and Shakti Wisdom and Strength Osiris and Isis Birth and Rebirth…

Those who know you Those who hold you Those who will have the real conversation with you They do not need to follow your feed To understand your hour of need We ebb We flow We crash We grow We live And sigh Cry And fly We love and leave Grieve Stay still And still Believe Roam Set free Then come home Come home To you To me.

Change and the Redbud tree

Hearts for Future Generations http://vladimirkush.com Where would your heart end and mine begin? Is it in the valley of long lost friends Or on the peak of treasured moments. How does the thought of loss figure in? When each day grinds into the next Shredding the minutes into an inevitable past When I look up and say “remember when” And you look at me, eyes far away, slightly damp Thinking of the…

Today it will be three years since the innocents were sacrificed to a nation’s inability to take a decision. I wrote this that day and it is sad that nothing much has changed. Don’t let the shock wear off. Get angry and indignant. Remember Newtown was Everytown. #NEWTOWNSTRONG #InRemembrance #EndGunViolence

Elders who have left I find Fragments of your words Drifting across like clouds Edges and pauses. Faint wisps of shared laughter If I could, I would recall you To visit with me for a single day. To hear your voice Through your indulgent heart To walk by your side Your gait stilted and slow Your eyes though dimmed Your lens enriched by the memories of time Slow down, you would say but I was…

Most times the mysteries within are difficult to fathom till much later. When you sit in your cozy armchair staring into the distance, Nostalgia enveloping you in its foggy embrace, You nod in some sort of revelation. You were in the middle of transformation. While you thought everything around was changing, It was you who felt the tremors while the world continued to turn. It was you who was…

Greet today Open heart Open arms Forget familiar aches Leave behind remembered pain The anger and sorrow This life so fleeting Can unfold unbearable beauty Don’t birds sing louder After the storm has passed Don’t rainbows arch Lighting up the sky And tendrils shooting Towards the light This valor The will The celebration Despite constant loss Found in nature Everyday Morning Blossom. Painting…

Who are you without your prefix Or your suffix Your title that struts Into the room Before you do

What would you be Without your authority Without your trophies Or your following

And when night time Comes calling You lie stripped of Your makeup Your busyness A deflated balloon

Does your paranoia Invade your wandering thoughts Does your emptiness Reverberate across Your lonely heart?

—Shaku…

Retreat http://wp.me/s8gke-retreat

Picture courtesy vladmirkush.com

This silence I welcome Pregnant with pause Uncomfortable I have become with all the noise

Don’t ask me questions I don’t have any answers The language of the heart Is coded in memories

Some stay dormant Others spring to the forefront Sometimes vivid in color Tinged with nostalgia

It is a path that I take Not a city ordained highway With exits or U-turns Rest stops…

Every winter the Bougainvillea withers Her branches without leaves Exposing thorny stems Spiky and stern

She is chopped down to size Leaving behind nothing But a grey and painful Stump

She is left to be Ignored and incubating Nine months it seems Nothing to be seen

Every year through Each winter severe I wonder if she will Reappear If her roots survived Will she win the fight

This morning I see He…