The Poetess & Her Story

Before the end
Began
The story was over
It died
A premature death
In the hands
Of the prophesizing poetess
Whose craft was faulty
The story she told
Was not the story
She felt
And the story she felt
Was not the story
She wanted to tell
In her paradox
She muffled her emotions
And the end began
Before it was supposed to
And because that happened
Her characters
Came to life
And lived in the world
They were not supposed to
And the end was over
Before they
Could return
To the craft
Of the prophesizing poetess
And the poetess
Gave them emotions
That they weren’t supposed
To feel
And things happened
That weren’t supposed
To happen
And in the end
That followed consequently
The poetess
Had to taste
A bitter blood
Mingled with
Her poisonous sweat
And as her imagination died
Her inspiration
Deserted her
Leaving her alone
And lonely
As she was before poetry

Unconscious consciousness

In my half consciousness, the sounds that I hear in the night are of the passing trains and the barking dogs. Of course, there are the other sounds, of the traffic passing by and the sounds of the neighbourhood ‘Chinese whispering’ into our home. But none as crystal clear as these two.

Dogs
They fight
Over their territory
They think they own
And then they are reminded
That it doesn’t belong to them
By stones that come hurling toward them

Trains
Pass By
On their way
Through to another land
Carrying distant hopes through here
Hopes of meeting lost lovers again
But the hope remains while life continues

In my consciousness, the sounds that I hear in the night are the other sounds, of the traffic passing by and the sounds of the neighbourhood ‘Chinese whispering’ into our home. Of course, there are the passing trains and the barking dogs. But not as crystal clear as the others.

Traffic
Passing by
The sound lingers
Until replaced with another
Like memories that fade out
And then wait to be replaced
Sometimes the cycle breaks making memories eternal

Sounds
That permeate
Through these walls
And into our lives
Bring with them complications unwanted
But Chinese whispers kill the complications
And what we hear isn’t what is

* * *

Update: A note on the writing style of the above pieces - each one of them comprise of lines carrying one extra word than the previous line.

Fairy tale

It was not like anything that he had expected.

It was real. Reality was not what he had expected. He had not expected that reality would be like a fairy tale. The fairy tale that had come out of nowhere. The new age fairytale.

* * *

When he was a child, he did not believe in fairy tales. They were for the others. Those who believed easily. Those who believed in the tales and adventures his father told him at night.

When his father told him those stories at night before he went to sleep, he always doubted. Doubted if any of it was possible, if any of it really happened, if it could have ever happened. But he never asked or questioned. He just doubted. And as each night the stories unfolded, his disbelief grew.

But he loved the stories. He loved the stories because they were not reality. And reality was not real. And reality was not a fairy tale.

* * *

And today he was faced with a ‘real’ fairy tale. The fairy tale of ‘his’ life. The fairy tale that was about to enter his life and sweep him away. And he knew that he was on the brink of this fairy tale. The threshold that he was about to cross, and move in to the land that he doubted when he was a child. That he doubted till five minutes ago.

It was not like anything that he had expected.

Ephemeral Moments

Bit by bit, he put together the pieces of what had happened over the last week.

"Honestly, even if I could, I would not change a single thing that has happened since I met you."

His thoughts were mostly on the last twenty four hours.

"I am not sure what we have, or what it is becoming, but I don't want it to stop."

He played the scene again and again in his mind.

"I never thought that this was going to reach now, so soon, and today."

That very moment, when it had happened, out of the blue.

"I never thought that I'd be telling you this tonight."

The confession, coming out, off his chest, and into her mind.

"The person I was talking about the other night, was you."

Then, time froze, and everything was still, except her.

"I don't know what to say anymore."

And she looked deeply into his eyes.

"I don't know if I have you, but I don't want to lose you."

Home

As he stepped on the soil of the strange, yet familiar land, a thought struck him. It made him question why he was here. Why he had come back here after all these years. After leaving the life here behind. Leaving everything to go back.

To go back, to a place he called home. But home, was not the same when he had gone back. Home, was not the way he had left it. Home, had changed. Perhaps this is why he had come back here.

To pick up the pieces of the home he had left, to go back home. But it did not feel like a homecoming. It felt like he was here visiting. And that was not the feeling of home.

But when he got the feeling of going home, it was not home anymore.

He sighed, as he put these thoughts behind him and walked into familiar territory. The buzz greeted him. Welcomed him back. To his new home.

When heaven opened

At first
The light trickled
When heaven opened



Then
The light spurted
When heaven opened

Finally
The light gushed
When heaven opened

Drifting memories

The smell wafted
Through the room
Carried by
A trail of smoke
Eyelids close
Sounds drown
The smell
Take over
And becomes
A feeling
The smoke morphs
Into the past
And carries away
A trail of emotions

Silent Silhouettes

I remember

I remember, the particles of dust that hit my eyes in slow motion, as the motorcycle tumbled its way through the road running parallel to the river.

I remember, the river, the road and the trees; all running together. Cutting through it, perfect slants of sunlight, through the trees, over the road, onto the river. Making it shimmer.

I remember, as we passed from sunlight to shadow, while driving through, my mind entered heaven. This was heaven. Not a care in the world, everything left behind. Just the two of us on a bike, on our way to the faraway beach. No worries, no hang ups, just us having a good time. Far away from everyday life.

I remember, the road snaked its way through and there was the odd buzz of a car or a bike passing us by.

What I remember the most, was the wind. The wind blowing through our hair. The smell of the wind and all that it carried with it. Wafting through. The wind bringing the carefree feeling with it. The feeling of heaven.

Fate

He was happy before he met her.

And then she happened. She happened when he was not looking out. She happened when he did not want anything to happen. When he was not looking for anything to happen. But she did.

It was not expected.

They were meeting innocently for the first time. Not aware what was going to happen and how the future was going to turn for them. They looked at each other and considerations were made. The considerations did not match. He had something else on his mind. She had something else. The two things were related but they were not the same.

And so it was born.

The meeting extended beyond time and place. They moved locations. They moved atmospheres. They moved thoughts. They thought different thoughts. Innocent thoughts, harmless thoughts. Innocent and harmless to themselves. But not necessarily the other.

Then things that were not supposed to happen happened. Then things that were supposed to happen happened.

He was happy before he met her. Now he is in another world.

* * *

I was unhappy before I met her.

She was supposed to happen to me. I was looking out for her. I wanted her to happen to me. I was looking out for something to happen to me. But she didn't.

It was not expected.

They were meeting innocently for the first time. I was not aware what was going to happen and how the future was going to turn for me. They looked at each other and considerations were made. The considerations did not match. I didn't know that he had something else on his mind. I knew that she had something else on hers. The two things were related but they were not the same.

And so it was born.

The meeting extended beyond time and place. We moved locations. We moved atmospheres. We moved thoughts. They thought different thoughts. Innocent thoughts, harmless thoughts. Innocent and harmless to themselves. But not necessarily the other.

Then things that were not supposed to happen happened. Things that were supposed to happen to me happened to him.

I was unhappy before I met her. Now I am in another world.