Don't behold me
With contempt
Because I floated in
Just like a driftwood
I had a name
Born to someone
Isn't it enough
To qualify as a human?
Do not fear me
Do not hate my folks
Simply they couldn't afford
- love, pyre or a grave
They probably thought
Water should be my grave
Instead of fire or earth
River being the river
Did what it does best
Buoyed me back
Just like a driftwood
I had love to give
But there were no takers
In the land of hate
River could have set me free
But it returned me to you
As a nameless corpse
To be counted among
The countless
River will remember me
Even if you don't
This beloved river is
Our memorial!
#CovidDeaths
Author: Madhuri Katti
If Dead Could Speak

If dead could speak
I wonder what would they say
To every
'Rest in Peace'
They gasped for breath
They waited for beds
They trusted
They hoped
They left behind
Mounting sorrows
And bills
And plans
And dreams
They simply got erased
Without farewells
They got dumped
They got duped
Don't ever think
They are
Resting in Peace
If dead could rise
From the ashes
And graves
And rivers
They would certainly
Rise in rage
Waiting in the Dark
When will it be dawn?
I ask in desperation
Peering at the night sky
Stars too seem grim tonight
After the endless wait
There is a dim light
But, someone whispers
Hey, you missed the day!
What arrives is another dusk
Followed by the dark
Moonless night
Stars without their shine
Another endless wait
For the dawn
That never arrives
A dawn
That never arrives
Heaven and Hell
Your idea of heaven
Is my idea of hell!
How will we ever reconcile?
You talk of supremacy
I walk with the oppressed
How do we find a middle ground?
You use brute loud force
I sing my songs of protest
Do you ever hear me?
You think might is right
I believe meek too has a right
How do I protect my child?
You are drunk on power
I root for my freedom
How do we avoid the fight?
Dice is definitely loaded
You will win this fight
But still you will lose
You will remember me
At the door of heaven
Your sins
Will be my testimony
Your lies
My truth
The fire you lit to hide your crimes
Will burn down the heaven
Your supremacy is a sham
You have power that is not yours
One day humanity will rise
One day humanity has to rise!
Time
Sometimes I wonder
whether I lose track of time
or time loses track of me
Forgotten, erased, demonised
I lurk like the dark shadow
Waiting for the spotlight
To reveal that I exist
Future
Fear looms large
Blurring both past
And future
Will we make it?
Random memories
Of a crowded bazar
Hot breakfast
A long trek
Memory of a comet
And night sky
Some dance steps
Old poem
All years melted
Away into tears
Music and laughter
Good friends
Gentle love
All locked away
Keys lost
Fear looms large
Palpable and real
But hey
Learn to look beyond
Seek beauty
And dreams
So many more
Moments yet to be lived
So many miles
Yet to be walked
There will be a future
A brand new one
Just like a new leaf
A place without fear
Just breathe in
And hang on….
Storm and Me
Did what it can
Shattered my existence
Where do I begin?
How do I pick these pieces?
There is no ground
Under the feet
It’s all water
The roof over my head
Has blown off
Whatever I held close
Simply floated away
Some with water
Other with the wind
How do I get my life back?
How do I prove I am me?
How do I show?
Where my mud house stood?
It’s all gone
Either with water
Or with the wind
Did you hear howling winds?
Did you see the waves rise?
Those uprooted trees?
My uprooted life?
No, you wouldn’t notice
You were all locked in
Blind and deaf
Till they cleared it all
There is no sign left
Of howling winds
Of broken homes
Of my lost past
I too ask
Am I me?
amphan #cycloneamphan
Spin
What kind of a spin is it?
What goes around, does come around
Yet, its never the same!
Laws teach nothing is lost
Yet, much cannot be retrieved
The top is also below
A walk on the mobius strip
In a world so self-similar
Nothing is familiar
For – What is, is never,
What really it is!
What we know, is actually,
Only the depth of the unknown
And that bond also decides the drift
Stuck on a blue planet in a vast abyss
Where war literally is sold as peace
I wonder,
What kind of a spin is it?
Lost Humanity
Scavenging under the rubbles
She looked for humanity
It was yet another day of
Strategic bombing
They tried to flee in vain
From guns and grenades
And bombs
And landmines
And beastly men
Death was everywhere
In every form
It caught up with all
Even those who escaped these
Troubled shores
She kept scavenging for humanity
Under the rubbles
Of the wasteland
Many died
For the sake of few
Who wanted to live
It was a lost battle
Under the rubbles
She scavenged
For dead humanity
The Blue Door
There is a blue door at end of the road. People say it’s the door to the happiness. One can hear laughter and songs, but no one is ever seen crossing the threshold. Neighborhood believes that all the peace and happiness has got locked behind the blue door. No one knows who has locked all the joy away but the sadness and anger that is left behind is quite palpable.
As one walks down the road, one can hear screams of the locked lunatic sibling coming from an attic of one house. They say he lost his mind over a girl who was forced to marry someone from her clan. From another house one can hear heart rending lament of a mother whose only child has gone missing. A misogynist cop rants and screams in the other one, ordering his wife and children who tremble with fear. A young girl screams hysterically in the next one whenever she hears a footstep, “They are coming for me. Save me.”
The town has a church, a temple, synagogue and a mosque where prayers are held daily. Everyone prays for peace and prosperity that they think is locked elsewhere behind the Blue door. They all hold each other’s faith in doubt. They all live in constant fear and pride of their gods. They fight and attack each other relentlessly. It feels as though they are compelling their gods to compete in a race to gain the highest glory and power of the land (just like they wanted the children to compete once upon a time). Sadly, they have managed to drive both gods and children away.
After prayers everyone returns to the little hell they have managed to create. The Blue door remains shut forever. In their fight, hatred and bigotry, the town has forgotten that the gods have left key to the door with them – the key that opens only when there is love and kinship.