Our idea of safety

I ignored safety.

You mean…

You didn’t use……protection?

Huh!

Don’t tell me you didn’t.

You okay? Just be careful next time.

I ignored safety. I crushed a man under my car.

Relax. It happens. Let’s figure a way out of this.

I ignored safety.

DID YOU CROSS THE TRACKS AGAIN?

THIS IS IT.

Huh!

Don’t tell me you did it.

Promise me you’ll not do anything that can put you in danger.

I ignored safety. I crushed a man under my car.

Poor baby. Don’t worry about it. We will protect you.

I ignored safety.

You didn’t install antivirus software?

Tell me you have saved your work.

Huh!

Don’t tell me you haven’t.

Make it a practice to be safe, always.

I ignored safety. I crushed a man under my car.

Did anybody witness it? It’ll take forever to prove anyway.

I ignored safety.

Are you doing it again?

Smoking up with those guys, are you?

Huh!

Don’t tell me you are.

Assure me you will stay away from it and them.

I ignored safety. I crushed a man under my car.

I know you’re not wrong. The lawyers will save you.

I was safe. I followed the rules.

I am gone, save for a few pieces in papers. 

Oh k!

Oh k! I am generous to faults,

Never to dolts

And no it’s not because

I am an unmarried old hag

That for quality I nag

Oh k! I am a go-getter,

Not some revenge abettor

And no it’s not because

My relationship status is single

That challenges make me tingle

Oh k! I know how to love,

But don’t turn it into powwow

And no it’s not because

I think I am too old

That I like subtle as much as bold

Oh k! I am forthright,

Not fishing for some fight

And no it’s not because

I can’t stand your youth

That I stand by the truth

Oh k! I revisit my heyday,

Not to turn away from my grey

And no it’s not because

I desperately want it back

That my past I unpack

Oh k! Go ahead. Have young fun.

Just don’t interpret Sun on my face as an inner burn.

I do qualifier

Change your wear.

And try looking fair.

Change your shoes.

Apply more mousse.

Change your voice.

Show some poise.

Change your gait.

Just walk straight.

Change your size.

God! Hide those thighs.

Change all of you,

If you want to hear I do.

A woman is:

a form.
a shape.
a mom.
a cape.

a colour.
a trophy.
a holller.
a topography.

a whore.
a safe.
a shore.
a waif.

a shot.
a grey.
a naught.
a prey.

a want.
a need.
a jaunt.
a steed.

a caress.
a touch.
a harness.
a crutch.

a part.
a future.
a dart.
a suture.

a life.
a dream.
a strife.
a scream.

a rind.
a glower.
a find.
a power.

Wrong Turn

She fell prey to
the shady one-patched eye guy, What-If
with the most disarming smile
and the deepest hypnotizing eyes.

He blinded her with one-sided vision
of the world –
of crumbling hopes and deterministic dead ends
of positives being a vile disguise worn by imps
of friends being fiends – no paradise,
where she had no choices left except
running into his welcoming arms
the arms that promised some stability and respite.

She let go of Faith
entrusted her hands
to What-If and
began her descent into the crevices
finding solace in doubts.

A marvelling discovery

In the time of yore
I was born without complications
except that I was whimsical...
well but usual na

Flapping happy wings
looking forward to
the reverse journey onward -
from without to within
promised by my Time machine

Vein by vein I uncovered
First - the happy polka-dotted clown
the public image
How I laughed at the sad jester!

Second - the footloose girlie
in a casual bermuda with
sunshine exuberance -
every bit the adventurous traveller.
A few had the club memebership here.
Hmmm... I did have a zest for life.

Reaching deeper down
the quicksands were tricky
Murkier... I saw me in
my 'typical' garb calling attention
to the lack of attention paid...
with a farway look in my eyes
that I didn't recognise

My happy feet were extinct appendages
and the funny clown was a
practical joke I played on me and the world.

In my bid to keep pace with my love
I had scaled new heights...
transforming from feet up
into a mermaid... struggling but
willing to swim through abyss (strangely it means depth too)
a dangerous depth with fear of losing self.

Slowly, and gradually he swam out
and I remained where I was
deluded and lonely...
Concealed in the annals of my own life

Time for fun again...
From within to without
I pull out the bermuda and
the polka-dotted disguise
On the beachside, I narrate
'happily ever after' tales
to people like me who seek
completeness in other's story
who return to shores with
a sad glint of being unloved by love...

Teeny weeny smiley reason

A tiny coalish pair

managed to gleam a happy black

even in the almost sunburnt background...

The white teeth an exception to the otherwise uniform expanse.

But the eyes called me back

A happy glint - a rarity in a tin full of

tired frustrated soulsall 9 to 6fiers

who loved magnifyingtheir trivial problems - a la modern tragic heroines

Forget it! we were with the gleam

Gleam inspite of the unwanted statusin an all-ladies domain

the tiny proud temples showing off

beads of wisdom earnt at just 10

And ya! the Boss-style timbre

Man! was I impressed?

For the day...

his smile touched my lips

Day break

The opening rays of the morning star
Streaked in steady promising shafts
ripping through even the slightest
get-away in trees and cracked roofs -
every visible inch of space...

An anticipatory joy set in.
The first quarter had begun
well in quite okayish way
And now the silent bold support of the sun...
first an all-pervasive crimson
then a deep orange... shrinking
finally to a focussed rich golden yellow

The omen was just right -
could sense a warmth
of a dazzling future rippling now and again
in the back of the retina...

But a pregnant grey monster
invaded the picturesque setting
Delivered a troupe of imps in hundreds
The little devils addded and grew in might

Inch by inch blocking my happy sky.
Till sun was just an exploded almost-dying light
visible in bits and pieces -
a vanquished warrior in the midst
of an obstinately victorious army.

Lost again the few stray
reasons to live...
scrambling on all fours I prayed for
another day or a forever night.