

Watching

Aliens

By

Elancharan Gunasekaran

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2016 Elancharan Gunasekaran

Poetry collections by Elancharan Gunasekaran

Supernatural Haiku

The Refugee

Dark Revolver

Into Oblivion

Yama, At the End of Time

Prowl

Eclipse- A War of Words

Monochromatique

Why You So Dark?

Chanting Demons (Coming soon)

Deviant Flames (Coming soon)

Ecopocalypse (Coming soon)

Love will take us places,

Into the unknown

Places you want to be

Places you don't want to be

Into the unexplored...

al•ien (ˈeɪl yən, ˈeɪ li ən)

noun.

1. Foreign.

2. Foreigner.

3. Refugee

4. Extraterrestrial.

adjective.

5. Out-of-this-world

7. Strange.

8. Non-conforming

9. Opposing

10. Rebellious

Where no human has gone before...

Bags packed, mind set

Closing the door behind

I get lost...

Remember my voice

Remember my choice

The person I used to be

Save me from the norm

Sleepless nights, lifeless walls

Save me from conformity

Into the subway

Barriers open

Hearts, closer to freedom...

In dreams we try

To escape reality's burden

Living brand new lives

Don't stop me

Trust me, I will go

Don't hold me back

Immigration checkpoint

Best smile, extreme obedience

Delinquent is born

Past guard and gates

Patting down, feeling contours

Checking pockets, gritting teeth

Down the private, all clear to go

Name please

You open to say

Very slowly, making sure it's right

Windows on rails

Windows to the sky

Alone, you might ride

They look at you

Assuming the worst

Welcome to my country

Angled stares

Confusion, seconds of doubt

You're human...

Free to go

Eyes close, closing tight

Swaying left and right

Balancing on bus rides

Timing is everything

Rushing up steps

Giving way to no one

Sleep is miles away

Peeking at phones

Invading on privacy

Fiddle with fingers

Playing, rubbing eyes

Waiting, wheels halt

Where will you go?

What will you do?

Scraping plans

To the highest point

Looking out

Surveying foreign soil

Past borders and seas

Only a passport

To experience the strange

Leave your confines

Feel uncomfortable

Grow on troubles

Eyes, dream of fog

When in fact

We breathe, death

Of smog and coughs

My skin

The color of soil

Does it bother you?

My skin

The color of sky

Does it invigorate you?

My skin

The color of snow

It knows nothing of peace

Car against train

On bumpy roads we race

Trailing desperate rails

Snapping pictures

Switching to video

Losing focus, capturing blurred moments

Rushing out

Trying to figure out signboards

A place to pee

Drizzle, bounce off the roof

A quick smoke

Disappear without a trace

Heavy rain

Frightening fragile hearts

Patting chests to sleep

Eyes, dying to slumber

Walking furiously

Across raging traffic

No hints of good

People steal glances

Trying to find gold

On my body

Steady, balance is the key

Rocking gently

On mischievous waves

Moving out

Engines rumble to life

Shaming the cries of the sea

I am but

A tiny piece

A puzzle

On this fluid presence

I proclaimed

The sky and earth

Husband and wife

The cold of fog

Sweeping waters

Ignoring my curiosity

Make me believe

In beliefs

I already do, not you

Waters reflect my youth

Refusing to spill

The truth of decades

My feet find land

Foreign feel

I try to ignore the looks

Neither day nor night

There is fear

In succumbing to mystery

Paths lead feet

Into lore, into tales

Opening narrow minds

Rain, water

It was all the same

Sky or earth

It makes no difference

Inducing tears

Rubbing clouds

Forcing heavens to cry

The itch of eyes

Fingers try to be gentle

I fail miserably

Dolls stand stoic

Brazen in daylight

Dancing to dirty nights

The dead

Sleep beside us

Forgotten

Beneath a plot of tall grass

Storyteller holds his crotch

We burst out

Laughing at ancient history

Sited, men and women

Listening to tales

Regardless of race or land

Pups dancing

I prowl on stone edge

War of water and beggars

Being tiny

Have its plus points

We never matter

Now or ever

Statues scream magic

Hidden in hair

Of essence red and furious

Power in hands

Stranger by the moment

Use it

Or be consumed

In nature we trust

In us we must

Go back to basics

I'm different, I know

They stop, they stare

Welcomed without a doubt

Curiosity is tool

Sway the violent

Make them believe

They want to know

What's beneath cloth

Your worth

In cash and valuables

Touch is same

The face, the attire

Mask the smell of death

Longing for peace

Is always confused with

Longing for death

Behold mystery

Go through misery

To find riches

At the ends of Earth

Beauty seems so perfect

Trusting eyes

Betraying the heart

I find myself

Riding waves

Speaking to ghosts

Embrace of cold

Chilling bones

Diluting sensual pleasures

Closer

As bodies merge

Beneath a celestial blanket

Strange men

Shouting and pointing

A fine way to speak

In shadows

Eyes admire the unknown

Dying to say

Words fear the worst

Leave me

To my smoky gaze

I am content

Come closer

Speak to me of the future

Forget our present

Smoke and advice

On wrong ends

Conversation of tides

In leaves and trees

Spirits see

Judging our souls

All is given

All is free

Why would they want

Salary and degrees?

Bells ring

Inviting eyes

To a ritual of disease

There is no harbor

Between sea and shore

There are only tidal emotions

I pray

I hope

My stories will find

A home

Dragged from beds

Into the abyss of night

Made to beg for a living

Wood and all

They would take the abandoned

None would be orphaned

Before our eyes

Darkness would hide

From the rays of daylight

Each step takes me

Into the day

Growing stronger by the minute

Cold winds

Make a fool of my body

A smile remains

Each story from memory

What comes to mind

Is written in ink and paper

Days now seem like forever

Within four walls, we meet

There is anger

But love prevails

She would take my hand

Leading me into rooms

Testing my sexuality

Food to rid my anger

Sited to eat

I taste, the splendor of emotions

Looking into eyes

We beg for the night

To come

Wake to the smell

Of vanilla and sex

Troubles long forgotten

As we part

Love is now gone

Replaced with longing

Waiting for acceptance

Waiting for the best

No more mystery

Put the mind to rest

Cells built in flesh

Memories stored

Retrieving when in pain

Judge us

Survey our deeds

Then give us, punish us

Give me, that which is due

Walls creak

Putting all my weight against it

Breaking narrow minds

On one leg he stands

Looking out into the far

Waiting for love

Say no to oppression

Say what you feel

I'll see you

On the other side

Sea of engines

Flowing down freeways

Raising fists and dusts

Painted in gold

A palace of history

Shrouded in mystery

They stare as you speak

In awe, in shock

Arms folded in reverence

If not for luck

If not for money

This world

Would be filled with fairies

They call out to me

In seductive wails

Pulling me into the deep

Clouds cover the heavens

Ashamed of revealing

The deeds of immortals

Shooting star it may be

Or the bad luck

Of a sky diving plane

This many stars

Adorn the dark sky

Dancing, making merry

Whilst humans, sleep in pain

In waters

Up to my throat

I thread lightly

Eyelids refuse to open

I beg them please

Turning red

Eyes water

I tell them to stop

It's okay, it's okay

I tell myself

In the mirror

Starring at a demon

Eyes red and confused

The sky

Has lost its moon

And I,

A fraction of my soul

In wonder, I look

A slight cut

Amazed at the sight of blood

Thick and crimson

Music, plays into ears

Thumping and inciting

Begging me to dream

This sky, the clouds

They seem so artificial

Did you meddle with my heaven?

Rain, stop, rain again

Clouds, unable to hold it in

Killing the heat

Walls

Hold the cold in

I find no means of escape

Faces contort

To find smoke escaping lips

Cigarettes

Travel with me

Hill routes snake

Nauseating the soul

Choking up on fresh bile

Bitter rivalry

Of cold and heat

Clawing at each other

Winner: The death of me

Bring your terrors

Release them, to those in need

Set yourself free

Bring your sorrows

Cry them out, in joy

This is freedom

No more grief

Bring your madness

Turn it into art

Sleep peacefully

Towards the east I ride

Rage of the Sun

Blanket the sky in red

Out of nowhere

He appears, a lifeless shell

Cutting lines

Breaking mundane mornings

You are art

Your face, your freckles

Your misgivings and misfortunes

Roads hardened

Roughened by our thoughts

Never saying a word

Hands on the head

He must be tired

Then again,

He could be plotting

Gripping tight

Flesh on hand

Afraid to let go

Sleeked back to perfection

Trimmed and angled

Greek gods walking

They really do exist

Stress on faces

Lines cut across foreheads

Refusing to go away

Holes grow on jeans

Appearing with the days

Eyes tired

Hands rich of scars

Hands rigid, veins popping

He goes to sleep

Standing on a moving bus

Fragrances steal hearts

Catching the nose off guard

Bring back memories

Lungs scream

Locked in battle

With the stubborn haze

In a daze

They seem to walk

Floating on thin floors

As tensions build

Masks are worn

Nothing is said

All is kept within

Back and forth

Back and forth

Waves come and go

Futile as it seems

They held, spears and knives

At poisonous winds

In times of uncertainty

They band together

Strange things, these creatures

Humans

He knew of no other way

A beacon he would be

Setting himself on fire

Voices against governments

Raising fists, baring souls

Igniting rebellions

Chaos and unrest

Bombs find beds

Sleep, so distant

Best to stay awake

The Decision

How long has it been?

Since we have lain together

Since our lips have touched

Each morning

I watch you wake

Before me

Bathing quick

Rushing out the house

Not having your breakfast

Why do you hate me?

This bed once whole,

Is now, two separate twins

One with you gone

The other with me

Still lying in it

Trying to face reality

Each day after you're gone

I'm bleeding my heart out

On this typewriter

Pressing away

Trying to fill empty walls

With words

Because today,

Might be the last you would see me

I'm leaving

Not running away

I'm going out

For a long walk

I might not return

I hope that

These words I've written

Will make some sense

To you

More like poems

They are not direct

They have meaning

I'm not saying goodbye

Not leaving anything behind

I have all I need

These words

Stuck on the wall

Are my gifts to you

I hope

You find peace

A new life, maybe

Packing courage and wits

Running in the shadows

Hoping to find peace

Studies come to a halt

Lovers come to a halt

Life comes to an end

Do you not see?

There is no future

In war, in hate

In death

Do you not feel?

The parting of fingers

Separation of losing kin

Do you not hate?

Humans, humanity and humiliation

Nothing surprises me anymore

Do you not hope?

Peace will return

People, will return to their homes

Have hope

Carrying kids

Carrying things

Trying to find a way in

Carrying faith and hate

Starving on boats

Braving winds and waves

No land in sight

Too fragile to move

Waves rock bodies

Thrown out to sea

Huddled in tight corners

To even the weight

Gliding on choppy waters

Possessions sold

Honor sold

A ticket

To paradise, it seems

A stranger

In this land, stranger than the rest

Life begins anew

He would replace

Lost words

With the tune

Of a whistle

Wherever this may lead

Home or hell

I will go

Beneath caps

They hide

The scourge of hair loss

Fogs linger

A little too long for comfort

Shading blues

Masking troubles

Perched on ledge

With feet dry

His mind, countries away

I see no stars tonight

Pitch black

Terrors so real

I see no life in the sky

Always blue

Black and angry today

Heads hang

Swaying with the ride

Sleep has won

Punch the guy

Who whistles in the morning

Bothering the ears

Waking tired eyes

Clean army uniforms

A clear message

War is far

I write with hope

They do not agree

The world, my home, my loved ones

Find me a place

Refuge for my imagination

Of daydreams and breaking norms

I come from far

Void of winds and weight

Hurtling light years into the black

Clouds part, moving away

Just as you and I

Parting ways, saying goodbye

I have learnt many things

The most important

To forgive myself

Will you marry me?

A simple question

No need for fanfare

Exams have evolved

From solving riddles

To questioning beliefs

Maybe, I was meant for destruction

You saved me

You used me

Goals in life:

To live, to die

To procreate, to endure

She was mystery

Losing limbs, losing your mind

Is it worth it?

Doubt, has its advantages

They take you for being curious

You're just killing time

So many ways to die

So many ways to cry

Always an alternative

To sleep is waste

I should know better

I've outlived the rest

Head to toe

Carpeted in hair

Too manly for her

I cut her off, clean

Children running stairs

Turning right, breaking left

Tag! You're it...

Youth everywhere

Filling the void

The old will die

Taking off shoes

Relatives shaking hands

Planting daggers behind backs

You have made me whole

I never knew this side

You unchained my rage

Drunk on companionship

Touch became a problem

Beaten brutal, beyond comprehension

Window squares

Making pieces of my view

Separating the details

Things so common

We forget them

Throwing them into hungry fires

Holding the edge of the table

Cursing screens

Rejection after rejection

Love me, she would say

Slide right, slide left

Make time for dating apps

Hold still

Flicker of eyes, bodies shifting

Blurred photos...

Do you remember?

How we used to sleep

Five bodies to a bed

We were all conned

Into this life

Of suffering and pain

She said, stay

In bed, under blankets

Waiting for ghosts to disappear

Tell me

Have you no mercy?

No. Do you?

Waking up to screams

Making the bed

Hiding sexed stains

Beautiful words, all imagination

Made into books, stories

This is our magic

Read once, twice

Contorted in the open

Absorbing printed ink

Books stained with life

Sleeping in shelves

Waiting for the next...

Hat on the head

He bows to the crowd

Hiding his intelligence

Great wheels turn

Sending lives

Towards their fate

Losing savings

To travel the world

Returning home to debts

 Alone, in the city

A baggage of questions

Home, filled with scribbles

Things to do-

Walls to paint

Hearts to love

Candle lit

Sited in the first row

Sharing my sorrows with the divine

I wake to aching to bones

Blanket pushed aside

Trying to stand up

The strangeness of pain

Like a newborn

A feeling so alien

They laugh, finding time to smirk

They will never understand

The agony of places

So much to say

So little time

So much so

We will meet again

Paths will converge

Bringing the fated

Options at a junction

I keep telling them

This isn't love, they refuse to believe

Married for thirty years

Where have I gone wrong?

I ask myself, for the thousandth time

Closing the door to the toilet

Rain had arrived

Gushing out from the earth

Cheated by my ears

With a swipe

This world is laid bare

For my eyes to read

News from all over

You have exceptional taste

In all things that are-

Quarrels and making out

Proclaim to the world

Your misery and tyranny

Open up your heart

Let the joy in

I am a writer

I refuse to believe

I am much more

Safari in the city

A minute at red light

An eternity of sensual longing

Choose one

That's all it takes

Money and sex

They make the world go round

They hit us hard

Breaking mortar and stone

No blood was shed

Your world is strapped

To my wrist, in leather and metal

No time to waste

Sincerity in actions

What do you say of a person,

Who blankets the Earth in a plastic sheet?

Your god, my god

Even in death and spirituality

We want to own our dear gods

There are times, when I'm with you

In the most peculiar of places

That I forget to breathe

There are times

Thoughts of mine, could get me killed

Still I wonder

There are times

The mind says it wrong

The heart,

Writes it right

The scavenger in me

He separates the feelings

The infatuation from love

I keep telling them

I am not human

They gave me food, clothes

A place to sleep

Clouds roll to a stop

Finding anger in hearts

Unleashing elements to the beat

Good morning

The virus has me

Eating away at my sanity

Good afternoon

Drunk on drugs

Sleep comes to me

Good evening

Bones feel like seventy

Each step is a pain

Goodnight

Feeling slightly better

Filling the night with words

Eyes say goodbye

How can love be rare?

When it is here, there, everywhere

No need for ego or trembling hands

Pages are turned

Gently, for they may bleed

On bedside, watching as I sleep

Let me savor your delight

Together, we could run wild

Maybe, trap the stars in our madness

I keep telling them

I am different

Greater than the sum of all your parts

Stay still, packed into stress

It's the only way we will live

Or survive our transport system

Over fiber and light

We close the distance

Putting kisses across vast space

Human lines

Marching, waiting, tapping feet

The bus is here

Chasing time zones

Words, bask in solar glow

Others lost to the night

Staring out windows

Remember the play of winds

Don't hold back

Pieces of myself

I find them scattered

In the hearts of those around me

They twinkle, because they can

They flaunt, because they can

They commit, because they can

We die, because we will

I'm sure we have our reasons

Good, bad, evil

Everything has a reason

On toes we stand

To instructing hands

Finally, the flash of the camera

Picture perfect, we remain

Not an inch normal

Capturing moments worth a lifetime

I could feel it in the air

Her anger, I do not care

I refuse, I will not oblige

I could feel it in my skin

Her passion, I am in awe

Her beauty, drives me crazy

I feel it now, all over

A new something, all over

In love, all over again

Walk with me

Not where the lovers will go

Follow me into destruction, my fury

Do you love me now?

I see skin, once beneath rags

I see skin, once beneath your arrogance

I see skin, I walk away

Smiles, touches, we hope tonight

Bodies will sway, will stay

Make merry of our feast

Counting bodies

From the window seat

Hoping to share a word

Stranger or friend it may be

The end has come

The night will end

Change, don't be left behind

Haunting my thoughts

Your face, your grace

Give me a moment, let me pray

Will I ever be free?

Of your chains, cold and cruel

Someday, maybe

Hands clapping, cheering

Such a lovely scene

Fake smiles, broken bodies

An announcement to be made

Loud, voice from heavens

Startling my clouded mind

They could be anyone

One person, multiple roles

Trapped, confused mind

All they need is,

Time and respect

Where will you run?

Away from homophobes and disgust

Our world is filled with them

She sat across me

She said, they had dirtied her religion

I told her to, wash her mouth

You are my friend

My companion, my giver

You are the fine line

Between law and public affection

Stop me now

Stop me now

Stop me, lose me forever

Lose your mind

This mad world, this strange stage

More surprises to come, stay alive

They look, eyes bulging

Like they've seen death in person

Only a young man running

Paths stained with footsteps

No longer do I smell nature

Only smoke and burnt tar

I slow down

Running to my heartbeat

Pounding barren trails

Up slope

On aged feet

Beside me

I envy the ease of youth

Throw me into the open

Hot, the furnace of open earth

On feet light, I bound

No more patience

No more, on flat ground

Bursting forth with crazy speed

Parenthood, a thing so weird

Two paths:

One of thorns

The other of plucked petals

He watches them, every move

To the command of his voice

Instructing infant minds

No worries, children

They learn, faster than most of us

Let them be, grow

His body, laced with sweat

Honing it to perfection

Losing his mind in the process

He cares not of the heat

Smoking with the Sun above

Patiently waiting for the light

To turn green

They emerge from arms, legs

With rush of heat

In waves, he suffers

Where is mercy?

I ask myself, torn

Rubbing into skin

Where is humanity?

I ask myself, on the edge

Dividing the good and bad

Where are the gods?

When I need them the most

Questioning my sanity

Leave me hanging

Floating, wrought with pain

Locked inside, teak door shut

I know it will go

Hold still, let the air run

Healing the heat of the run

I toss about

Facing the judgment of winds

I know, I will heal

Trust me

They tell me, whispering

Pain pulsating through the body

I run my hands

Back and forth, up and down

Pushing my horrors out

I stand up

Putting my mind, pushing my will

Into weakened limbs

I sit down

On parquet floor

Rooting myself to home

The pain is in control

Somewhere, somehow, a little help

From elements, wind and wood

I feel the calm of nerves

The cold of floor

I curl up, not over yet

I wake

To find myself, spread eagle

The comfort of wood and walls

Winds graze my toe

Begging me to stand

To fight this craze

Pressure subsides

Under the force of will

I regain what is left, of my change

The Road

A backpack, some cash

I'm out here

Walking into the din

Of humanity and traffic

Past morning diners

Past empty pedestrians

I'm looking forward

Never looking back

I've been given

This one life

To make the most of it

To find my calling

To find my talent

I've lost years with you

Much more than that

You wouldn't remember

Even if I told you

This city has offered me,

Life and terrors

I'm saying enough

My heart's leading the way

Tugging my life's thread

Pulling me down ghettos

Maze of alleys

I'm seeing things I never had

I'm feeling things

I shouldn't have

The experience is filling me

I'm in a daze

I don't know

How much more of this,

I can take

I'm tearing

I don't know why

The wilderness,

Is calling out to me

Beyond the borders

Of man and society

I know where

I am headed

I finally do...

New, I face the mirror

The walls of the hall

Walking in hues of red

They do not understand

My ordeal, my change

Painted in crimson

I now am, as before

From a time long ago

Birthed into chaos

The rage of suns

Do you see me now?

Sited by fogged windows

A ghost of my former self

Do you love me now?

Haunted by your violence

Laid to rest on velvet cushions

Do you hear me now?

Screaming my lungs out

Nobody cares

I need you now

By my side, holding hands

Maybe, a kiss will do

Days become killers

Beating dreams, blue-black

Hold me now, don't let go

I'm coming for you

On wheels, on tarred roads

Racing against time

He picks up the scraper

Setting the tools in place

Unconvinced of another's perfection

Make me trust you...

All he does is stand and smile

A spade, brimming with ignorance

He sweeps at it

Water and soil, running through gaps

Futile it may be, he does the impossible

Signs, making me green

Telling all is not right

Get out now, exit...

Everywhere, I see them

Across walls, under footsteps

Never paid, never do they complain

24 hours, 7 days a week

Oh signs, at their finest

Rain or shine, breaking the rules

Pardon me, we would say

I've made a mistake

The damage is done

Saying sorry, over and over

Ears don't care, hearts don't matter

What's done is done

Pleading, asking for apologies

Make it sincere or don't say it at all

To forgive, is human

Bag up his front

Like a baby, cradled with love

Rolling sleeves in the heat

Light escapes

Through decks and gaps

Lighting up flats

A life of name, maybe class

Head to toe

In brands, just names

Hiding her beauty

Behind layers of paint and powder

Look carefully, you will see

Ears plugged

Ready to engage

He turns on the music

Loud, full of life

Mouth wide open

She yawns

Stretching the blues of this morning

Mix it up

Shake it well

Love is bland this evening

Sudden jerks

Elbows feeling erratic

Music in his veins

Brown hair so foreign

Lost in a sea of black

Confusion among locals

Headset to the mouth

She speaks to the air

Of language, clanking cans

And once again

They are lost

To the conspiracies of the digital

She smiles to her phone

Ignoring the lust of hungry men

Please look around you

Do you see what you've done?

Four knees, one bag

Laid upon like a king

Lost in dreams, he mumbles

Cause and effect

Mend broken knees

Give them a walking stick

Arrogance in the mouth

Chewing gum, chewing humility

I don't care...

The night's not done

I see lovers in the dark

Creeping out the dead

The day's not done

Falling through the cracks

The divide in society

Barely making through

I'm not done yet

Alive, breathing and walking proud

Better luck next time

The things I've been wanting to say

Waiting, watching, perfecting my line

Hey! I love you...

I've been dying to tell you

When you walked away

I screamed, you did not turn

Don't leave me, don't go away

I've been saying things

Repeating them inside my head

One day, someday, I will say

I held her in my hands

Squirrel, young, covered in filth

She had to die, I looked up at my gods

He fell with a thud

Must be from the skies, young and feathered

He too died, I dug into the ground with hands bare

He passed away in bed

Surrounded by his future

I was far away, I was not beside him

Do you recall?

Having faced my anger

I blacked out, choking you

Do you remember?

My embarrassment, the things I would forget

You brought them back

Will I forget?

You, me, the days we had

In arms and the warmth of couches

I will never

She would bear your nuisance

For nine months, no more

For eternity, she will

She would cook for you

Maybe share your sorrows

Give you strength

Someday she would disappear

You would cry your heart out, you will

Find her in your woman

Your wife, your lover

She can never replace your mother

Going round in circles

My world is spinning, out of control

Have I gone mad?

There is pain, a little rage

Keep it in, hold it together

You're stronger than you think

Don't belittle faith

It is pure, it is free

It's what's left of you and me

Do you see it now?

The burn and char of skin

Of dragons and fires in daylight

Do you feel it now?

Walking in waters waist-deep

Drowning in modernization

Do you now?

Know what's like to run across borders

Batons beating into flesh

Placards showing something

I can't make it out

Nothing will change, go home and sleep

Give up your years, your sanity

I'll grant you change

Always a deal, exchange with the devil

Some sited, others standing

I prick them with needles

They must be ghosts

Revenants in stone

Emerald Leaves

It's getting colder

Every step I take

It's getting harder

To walk

To climb

The sun is setting

Beyond the leaves

I can see what's left

Of the horizon

I reach out

I can feel

The remaining rays

Of heat

I can't stop now

There are predators

Out in the green

Creatures who thirst

For exotic city-meat

I need to find shelter

Somewhere I can

Be safe

I'm walking,

Crunching on twigs

I exit the forest

I'm in a clearing

So vast

The night is here

Stars and dark,

To comfort me

As I roll out my sleeping bag

I am worn from my journey

I sit and plan,

For tomorrow

I am thinking,

Have I made a mistake?

I am contemplating,

Four walls, the warmth of home

I steel myself

I tell myself

This is right

I am losing conscience

The cold is nasty

Forcing my eyelids close

I dream,

Of emerald leaves...

Firing guns, in capes jumping off ledges

I see, I become

I'm young, I copy

Episode after episode

Reality and soap operas

Now one, glued to the screen

Digital shows, feeding us knowledge

We simply watch

We dare not filter

In black and white, she walks

Down lanes, across bridges

Pause, rewind

She's the one, I know

Eyes closed, she held her breath

My lips against hers

Lighting obsidian skies

Back against the wall

She held me by the collar

Leaning in, don't stop now

Footsteps pound the pavement

I'm free, I'm free

Yet, most would disagree

I'm not stopping

For you, you or me

I'm running, I dare not stop

Past traffic, blasting horns

Shoes thumping, hitting hard

I become, one with the wind

The disbelief, the shock

Weird thoughts running through mind

He can run?

On bicycle, he tries to catch up

Pumping hard on the pedals

Pushing stained lungs

And there are those who wait

Who would give way

Make sure you run ahead

And there are those, who couldn't care less

Mean mouths, always talking bad

Rubbing it in,

Day in, day out

It makes no difference, gossiping away

Hold it in

That poison and serpent

Be silent, it helps

All that talk, all that boasting

What have you done?

You've yet to grow up

A nice word

Maybe a smile or two

Makes your day a little brighter

Be good, be grateful

The life we have

Say a thank you, it might help

Tell me,

How was your day today?

Amazing, what words can do...

A life beyond words

Of roses and adventure

Now stowed away

In a home for the old

Do you have any regrets?

I always ask, he would say

Never, that's why I'm alive

His eyes gave away

The rage of age

Wisdom beyond scholars and saints

He sweeps with vigor

Holding the broom like a sword

Far ancient, he would greet me

Good morning child

White in hair a caution

They know, they see it all

They tell you things, you'd rather not hear

Wrinkled skin and blemishes

They wear it with pride

On crutches, on wheelchairs into old age

Down the stream of life

Age catches up, slowing us

Putting brakes on

Mind, body and soul

Invincible, we once were

Terrors so great, curses were spat

Now, our turn to spit and rant

So much for dreams

So much for goals

Reality hits us hard, no time to breathe

As we get older

We refuse to accept change

We like things, the way they are

Nice and slow

Don't give up

The mind grows stronger

Pulling at the thread of life

I see you in my dreams

The old in me

Walking proud in battle scars...

Breaking barriers, breaking hearts

We hold strong to beliefs

They cannot force us to believe

Have you lost it?

I ask, wide-eyed

They tell me, no

It's just old age

Stories to share

Legends to spread

Legacies to pass down

No one really cares

They tell me, life is good

Which part? Why?

They've seen the worst

Beside, on the deathbed

A game of tug and pull

Between shadows and blinking lights

I've come this far

I have nothing to fear

I move on, fighting forward

Look within you

The power, the fury

The rising rage of youth

Sell us something, anything

Go ahead try us

We'll make it a trend

The people have spoken

Mostly the old and senile

Talking rules, making wars

We want peace

Two of different skin

Different color, side by side

Talking everything under the sun

We see things differently

The sun, the moon, is ours to rule

Do not hinder our growth

Too much to see, so much to do

So little time, ticking youth

Trickling into the adulthood

The kids we become

Kicking up dusts, imagining new worlds

Look at us now

I have loved the innocence of kids

Look at them, a mix of angels and demons

Often confusing me

A new world, we always say

One of peace and children

Where did all the adults go?

Who will teach them to learn?

I have no reason to be afraid

Not now, no longer

Children, will be our future

Our legacies leave it to them

I have no reason to run

I have done my best, with all my heart

My child will make it better

I have no reason to live any longer

My children, they are ready

To brave this world

I was angry

They made me calm

They made me reason

I was sad

They found me joy

Something to fight for

I was lost

They gave me direction

The will to survive

Youth is fire, kindle it

Make it hungry

Let it dance to its flames

Give them books, to read

Let them imagine

Bring life to words

Give them a reason to believe

In wonders and horrors

Let them decide

The right from wrong

It's all about, I

Me, myself, I

Only the best, for myself

Kids, it's hard to explain

Show them the world

Explain, tell them stories

Don't put guns their hands

I'm done talking to kids

They tell me things, crazy stuff

How do they even know all this?

Hold still, you have broken bones

And yet you move

The vigor of youth, rushing veins

Calm down, no need for flare-ups

Look around you, people are watching

Now look at yourself

Sit and listen

If not today

Someday you will, you have to

Give them a chance

Maybe today or tomorrow

Let them run the world for a day

Sit back, relax and enjoy while you can

With children, the more the merrier

Life, will be a memory

They are here to stay

To fill the gaps of creation

Goodbye gods, thank you for your sacrifice

Think about it, make it priority

To have a child

Is to create a new universe

Give him your attention

Give her your love

They will ask for more

Beware!

Give them your all

Directly, indirectly

They will return your sacrifice, tenfold...

I'm on cloud nine

The end is coming, a slow death

I can't wait for the afterlife

Cold creeps in, ignoring fires

Losing sensation in body parts

Losing grip, the strength from fingers

Death, is no servant

He has a duty to follow

She never sits on the fence

I hold up my hand

Feeling the drizzles, inking my skin

Come rain

Wash away our sins

Forget about cold

Jump, dance in the rain

Make merry with the heavens

Where is the rain, when you need it

Hiding away, floating across

Remember to bless our souls

Daylight is here,

Wake up now, slow and steady

Let light cleanse our eyes

She clutches the Sun

In hands fragile, tender

Saying, she will never let go

He was revered, everywhere he went

He was their light, their solace

He was human, he had to die

Sited, legs wide open

He would spent days, cleaning organizations

Nights, to read newspapers

On crowded bus rides

Behind me, they talk

Of a world, dominated by them

As if only they had a voice

She would climb up the stairs

Searching, looking across the deck

Hoping to find a seat

Amazing, how a place can change

Our memories, they like it

When things change, when things are different

We shook hands

We sat down to begin

People just had to stare

Two men, having a conversation

I would find him

Hair falling to the forehead

A notebook and pen by his side

To the toilet

Three cubicles, spaced out

I'm at the end, he's at the start

Emptied for the silence

Vegetables and vegans

They munch away, at mock things

Food that looks really like meat

Pulling in the chair, arranging the table

I sit down, I breathe

Okay, let's do this

I look at the screen

I'm mumbling to myself

Okay, let's begin

One take after the other

Feels like I'm crumbling

Throat drying up

I will do it, I tell myself

I begin to recite

The thunder breaking my sentence

Emerald Leaves

It's getting colder

Every step I take

It's getting harder

To walk

To climb

The sun is setting

Beyond the leaves

I can see what's left

Of the horizon

I reach out

I can feel

The remaining rays

Of heat

I can't stop now

There are predators

Out in the green

Creatures who thirst

For exotic city-meat

I need to find shelter

Somewhere I can

Be safe

I'm walking,

Crunching on twigs

I exit the forest

I'm in a clearing

So vast

The night is here

Stars and dark,

To comfort me

As I roll out my sleeping bag

I am worn from my journey

I sit and plan,

For tomorrow

I am thinking,

Have I made a mistake?

I am contemplating,

Four walls, the warmth of home

I steel myself

I tell myself

This is right

I am losing conscience

The cold is nasty

Forcing my eyelids close

I dream,

Of emerald leaves...

I cannot remember, the number of times

I must have lost count

I'm still here, reciting away

Chocking on words

Near the end, I'm doing it right

Almost there brother

Knock, knock, knocking off the rhythm

I'm sweating, my shoulders aching

I tell myself, here we go

I'm grabbing on to the seat

I'm finishing it fast

Reciting my way, into celebration

The finale is near

I had to cough, repeat

I can sense closure

An end to this nightmare

Performance poetry, help me

I sit back

Take a deep breath

Release, its now or never

I pulled through it

Bending and mending the words

Throwing emotions and profanities

I did it

I rinse away the heat

The buildup of tension

I emerge fresh, ready to record

I smile into the camera

Hey, no sweat

Lines, made for the world

The brave people in it

This is what time does to us

It makes us regret, too slow

It makes us forget, too fast

Where have you led me?

Into a cushioned box, laced in velvet

Don't wake, the outside is in tears

I'm certain of my fate

Without you by my side

I will have no one to fight with

Two men walking the streets

Talking things that shouldn't be

Saying things that mean everything

Poetry was not meant to be direct

I hope you understand

These lines, are meant to puzzle

To invoke your thoughts

Across the traffic light

One running, the other walking

Vehicles, dead at the red light

Into a ancient world

Refurnished, now hip enough to bear our nuisance

Shops closed, lights flicker

How nice...

Along rows we walk

White walls blush

Hinting at our hypocrisy

Out into the open

Fresh air, beautiful women

Mowed lawns, trampled on

We find seats, in the cold inside

Outside filled with laughter

Familiar faces, lost in smiles

Menus placed, we seek our needs

Deciding on matters

Stomachs needing a bite

A hand, I reach out

Calling out, hey man

Could I make an order?

I look around me, the noise

The squabbles and scribbles

Its amazing, how society can bleed

You came at last

The craving, at its best

My beer, you're finally here

He looks at me

Like I'm an alcoholic

I say, no

Sometimes, I tend to be

Don't mind me

I'm looking through my phone

Feel free to look around

Don't mind me

I have my bottle at my lips

Feel free to sip at your drink

Don't mind me

I'm past the drama

So get to the point

Make it quick

Conversing things loud and proud

Poets, at a table

Hey, don't blame me

I'm really glad to speak

I offer the food

You don't seem to want

It's perfectly fine

I'll have it all for myself

You ask me

Do I remember seeing you?

Why would I

Why in the world would I remember you?

Your fingers grace my phone

I notice it

You notice me, noticing you

We complement one another

Like we've known each other for ages

Maybe we were friends

A long time back

The people we see today

Maybe, they were once family

Past lives colliding in the present

Randomly saying things out

We speak of misery, not fitting in

Yet here we are

In a place filled with normal

I check my phone

Checking the time

Keeping check of our presence

Don't be fooled by the smiles

You want info, reliable sources

I suggest a fair trade

I reach out, a hand

Hey man, um

Could I have the bill now?

I'll pay now

Don't forget, words are powerful

You have a responsibility

To the world, for the future

Shake hands, grip tight

Hay, it was nice meeting you

I'll see you soon, maybe never

He's a got a hat on

Bling on the ring

Verses running through his mind

Feeling naked

I take off my clothes

Dipping fingers into warm ink

Call me crazy

Some say I am

I have the right to elevate

To express my voice

Ankle deep in rainwater

I stand still

Hoping the gods have not forgotten me

Dress to kill

He faces the onslaught of sky

Branded silk

Drenched in misery

The bus is here

Running through gaps and bodies

Doors opening

Bag beside me

Checking the number of stops

Apps really come in handy

I feel the cold

Engulfing my chest, my lungs

Cloaking it in mists

I sit back, relax

Music is played from a stranger's phone

Singing to the rain

I pray, please stop

He is blocking the stairs

In orange, leaning against purple poles

Feeling wet emotions

The stop is here

I run down the stairs

Eager to meet the rain

The rain now sick

Has stopped its barrage

Why stop now?

Have you given up...

Cement path, laced with flowers

Fallen, killed by drops

I walk

Enjoying the drizzle

Shops line the building

Antique houses, surrounded

By the young and ignorant

I stand outside

Looking in, the pet shop

Animals, dreaming of freedom

To the cold of this evening

I walk past

Eateries and steroid-injected bodies

They know

I'm not from around here

Am I different?

Am I weird?

I am human, just a little off

Eat your food, you phone calls

Concentrate on the important things

Prioritize, I'm just passing

Destination is close

I dare not go in

Not without the my family

By my side

The comfort of shelter

I stop to look at my phone

Screen blank, heart empty

Where could they be?

Flying circuits around my legs

I look down

I see flashes of black wings

Eyes find companionship

People making merry

Decorating pillars, stringing plates

People, busy at work

People, people, people

I see robots not people

Colds winds, take me away

Moving my feet across roads

Up the gravel

Ducking under led lights

The air is familiar

Fresh from the terror of skies

Breathe in, breathe out

I hold my palms up

Looking at them, wondering

Would today be any different?

A different view, worlds changing

Just a while ago, I was there

Now, I am here

It's always good to know your surroundings

You never know

Someone might be watching

I mean, I feel it

Years have passed

Since I've stood on this land

Among people, filled with laze and pride

In my heart, I know

Trouble is upon us all

Am I the only one?

Perhaps the human race is shy

Everything happens for reason

Or so I believed

Until this moment

She drove between vehicles

Female, impatience on face

She had to park her rage

Back to the front

She would move in and out

Slow, steady almost there

She pushed her luck

Way to far

Pushing, pushing

Scratching, denting metal

She seemed so confident

I actually thought she would do it

She had so much space

She ran out, she ran in

As eyes watched her demise

She had done enough damage

She hit, now she ran

I've seen women, all types

Never this type, the mad ones

Driving with emotions

Maybe, use your brain

They came running

Over the crash and burn

The rage of parking wheels

She sped away, these were metal

Solid and inhuman things

Imagine running over flesh and bone

My mind was running

Thinking of wheels, crushing us all

Curbs stained with blood

They came running

Different races, different faces

Damage done, hands on hips

Staring in disbelief

Call the police!

Do the right thing

No one wants to get involved

Making ridiculous claims

I've lived for some time now

Alive, breathing, aware of this world

I know why you laugh with me

Have you no shame?

The least bit of pride

Do you think I would bow to your orders?

You stand close

Looking at me, eyeing me

Suspicion written all over your face

You came at the right time

Souls to look forward to

Go, don't wait

No need to look at faces

When there is savior, don't hesitate

Believe, don't look back

Down the gravel

Onto the road, souls meet

Kind and wise

Leading me past hospitable gates

It has been so long

Far too long

I finally see you

Your smile, your eyes

You speak with your body

Her hair flowing in rivers

Dark and beautiful

You were the moon

At every turn

I see your phases

Your love

You look for me

Eyes searching, following me

I'm not going anywhere

I'm here to stay

Across from me

You sit, arms across your chest

The cold getting to you

I wish I could

Hug you, hold you

Too many people, maybe they would speak ill

You had to be

The brightest star, to me

They knew, we were a thing

Jealousy is a thing

A crime, an uncontrollable feel

Death is never too far

They take photos of us

Making us feel good

Stars, our status maybe

You can't deny the vibes

Will you stay for a while?

I could use you

Your kind smile

Your true love

Marry me?

The romantic I am

I laugh at the aftermath

After she leaves

All gloomy and stormy

You get in, you drive off

Carrying my love, things I've lost

Go quickly, don't make this hard

Waking up to silence

Now that's really fine

Waking up to drills and dynamites

Not nice, not nice at all

He looks at his phone

Eyes in a daze, now filled with anger

Emotions speaking, when lost for words

This name, this face

I know you, your request on the other hand

It complicates things

Are we friends?

Do I know you well?

We don't, you sat beside me once

That's all, nothing more

He told himself, don't reply

Warmth of waters set you thinking

You think of revenge

Possible ways to end this:

I block you, you block me

I scold you, the hatred begins

Keep cool, I pause to think

To weigh my options

Am I not seeing something here

Maybe, losing an opportunity?

Food is served, instant noodles

Bad for health, I know

It tastes so good

I pick up my phone

Reading, re-reading

Making sure, I'm doing the right thing

As, I read

I understand something

A plea set within the message

As if there was no more hope

I begin to rationalize

I begin to see

The bigger picture

What it actually means

The hate is gone

The mind is calm

I start to type

Give him time to absorb

This is not the end, I can tell

He has been watching

Going through my pictures

Noting the details, body parts I think

I recall now, his silence

He was observing

I had no clue

Now I do

Stalkers, take the digital route

Filtering picture after picture

Finding the perfect victim

We lose focus

Always looking at the front

We forget the backend

The people who make it possible

Technically speaking, they work

We show

The sound of engines

I can tell

It's big, operated by a tiny human

I hear you shouting

Bellowing above gargantuan music

Making commands

The eyes see

All that is love, is meant to be

Fated by thin invisible threads

Heart to heart

The eyes see

Compassion, kindness and soul

Weighing them

The eyes see

Ghosts, wraiths and demi-gods

Questioning our stories

Those passed down by mouth

To touch is to feel

To remember, the history

The flesh of things

To touch is to want

To hold on to something true

Never let go

To touch is to give

With all your heart and soul

To those who need a helping hand

The curl of tongues

Tasting the bitterness of rage

Blood between gums

No more fighting

The curl of tongues

Love the moment

Love the energy

In the moment, is my world

The curl of tongues

As words disintegrate

Forming brand new lines

Lick in satisfaction

Our, big or small

The way it works, behind the scenes

Organs, senses working together

The perfect show

We refuse to see this

The exterior, mostly a façade

Look within, understand the senses

Being mortal, it's a great thing

Not everyone might agree

You to live, to suffer, to remember

You die, and then there's the mystery

Of the afterlife

Let's talk about people

Yes, us, humans

Birth of blood and fire

I'm just curious

We lived in caves

We hunted for meat

We survived, carrying death where we go

We found fire, sharpened tools

Took us a long time, to stand upright

When we did

The world was not flat

We learnt to speak

It was often grunts and coughs

The cold made it worse

Nothing could stop us

We made love

We multiplied, populated lands

We were okay

Maybe a little too over confident

We waged wars, raped women

Slayed children, nothing was spared

Cycling through peace but mostly wars

I cannot help but admit

That humanity, we are our world's downfall

Millennia or more

And we have yet to change

Some disagree, saying we are boon

God's divine grace upon us all

We are the rightful heir to this planet

Are you all mad? I disagree

Find me a place please

Away from the noise, the blabbering of mad men

They do not make any sense

I look at humanity

And I wonder

If there could be more

Something more to us

I found my answer

Open your eyes, your mind

You will see, the best in us

If only you choose to do so

Humanity is well alive

Not in all but in most

The small things we do

Out of goodwill

Sometimes we have no choice

We long to spread our word

Our stories to the next generation

But sadly

History gets twisted

Ripped of parts and pages

We long to find peace

Some die for it, others speak for it

No one lives forever to speak such tales

I long to be immortal

I stand on benches, under the sun

Proclaiming my right to be king

They laugh at me, people

I have a love for words

The dark and mysterious

The type that makes me bleed

I'm hooked to it

I speak from my dreams

The things I cannot say

I put it on paper

I speak in tongues

Sometimes one, maybe three

All for you, for you to read

Words find me

On the road, in the toilet

When I wake, a bad day

I write it down

Words find me

Haunted by things simple

Bothered by complex policies

Words find me

When I unable to stand

At my worst, my nightmares

Lost for Words

Walk with me

I tell no one in particular

I'm talking to myself these days

They say, people who talk to themselves,

Are very intelligent

I don't know if I am

I've survived out here

For months now

I must be clever

More of shrewd

I am speaking to the roads

Every few minutes or so

I strike up a conversation

Cars pass me

People pass me

They think I'm crazy

I'm not

I can see it in their eyes

I'm just lost in thought

The roads, does this to the mind

After prolonged sessions

In the outdoors,

Survival is the key

Even if it means

Talking to yourself

Today, another day

Unlike every other day

I have something new to say

This is for the road

I begin to recite:

You bear my burden

Without question

Without reason

You bear my soul,

My heart and body

I am grateful

For your heat

I am grateful

For your rain

I'll be your friend

Bear my words

Just a little more

I have no more to say

I offer you my silence...

Words make me

Do the weirdest things

Quitting jobs, taking pay-cuts

Needing only the experience

Words make me

Spin, dance in circles

Forgetting all sense of time

Past, present and future, no more

Words make me

Lose control, lose myself

Mind, body and soul, all gone

Words are my

Solace in times of need

My salvation

My cycle of life and death

Words are my

Power, my voice I thought lost

My trials through fire

Words are my

Paths to peace, a world of my own

A vacation from reality

Words make sense to me

They talk to me

In a way most don't

I can relate, I don't hesitate

Words can be trusted

I do, others don't

They always ask for action

I play with words, mixing

Matching them with emotions

Putting minds to work

Now, think...

Sleep is lost

I'm tumbling into daylight

No nets to catch my fall

The night feels like day

Burning holes in the bed

I'm trying to find sleep

No stars, no wind

Not tired, wide awake

Even fools are asleep

Scratching his head

He must be thinking

The mess

This country is in

Hold it up higher

Yes, that smartphone

Glue it to your face

Beside me, big and black

He blocks the sunlight

Thank you, whoever you are

Eyes aching, throat cracking

I wake to the smell of incense

Clouding my morning

In this freakish digital age

Comes along a man

With a phone, considered ancient

By my standards

Rows and heads

Upon columns of seats

Heading into rowdy traffic

You could take a shower

White-grey flakes in your hair

Do you even shampoo?

I hear her bangles

Calling out to me

Adjusting her stars maybe

Doing many things at a time

Has clobbered my mind

What's next?

Come on work, brain

The big man's not big enough

Even he

Cannot block out the sunlight

Light is in reign

Blinding eyes

Casting shadows

On all manner of things

I like

How you've made

This seat your bed

Your jacket, now a blanket

I like

How designs

Interact and integrate

Confusing our lives

I like

Space

How crowded it is here

On this planet

These weird sounds

The remains of music

Released into the public

Bells, to signal the stop

Does it really end there?

This life

It's an endless journey

She was asleep

He wiggled his fingers near her nose

Waking her in an instant

I wonder what he had done

His fingers were like magic

Pulling reality from dreams

Magic is alive, after all

Those who believe, see it

Those who don't, regret it

Put away your phone

Let me pass

You stand, you stone

Please get down

You should have sat below

You limping down stairs

Queues forming behind you

Machines sending us

To destinations, no need to think

Simple

Escalators moving bodies

In thousands, maybe millions

Monkeys no more

Climbing lost to evolution

Put us in capsules

Attach wires and panels

Let robots do our work for us

Mother

She rarely gets angry

She must be on funny pills

Mother

Nine months of fury

Hours of intense labor

She says, come home early

Mother

Kind, maybe crazy

There will be no next life

This will be your last

This lane, this is it

Where it happened

Memories flooding back

Years crashing through open gates

The smell remains

Of enmity, of burning rage

I try to calm down

I'm breathing hard

Shit, this is why

I don't come here

It's painful

I think of the good times

Of us, fighting to be together

Me and you, we

I can fight this

I don't run

Not always, I hold my ground

Illusions of a time before

I'm steady, grounded

It's over, the pain

The trauma, it was no fault of my mine

I will forgive, myself

She, with me

We walk into slaughter

The stench of meat

Dead for our teeth

Into a maze

The smell, heart-wrenching

Clutching nose and belly

Alleys leading into daylight

I look behind me

Carcasses hanging, without skin

Ready to be bought

Bellies call out to us

Begging for food

Eat, eat, eat

Brain no longer in-charge

A perfect spot, we sit

Slight wave to the man

He comes over, happy to serve

I remember ordering food

Nothing meat

We were served:

Black flies, flying circuits

Hot, enough oil to kill

We eat, hands enough

Losing fork and spoons

People look, they always do

I offer to pay

This time its family

Not about money

You have done more for me

I can never repay your love

Go ahead, pay

She smiles at me

No need for second thoughts

He drops his hands

Into buckets of roses

Feeling for the best

Good man

He looks at me

Wondering, our relationship

Confusing it may be

Counting money

Back to work

He picks up incense sticks

Lighting them to a million gods

A single lane

Filled with people

Different skins, so many languages

Working the morning into a frenzy

Men, women, children

Tourists flock, left, right, everywhere

Spending money on weird things

A pair of men

Laughing, wondering

Why she is dressed up this way

Entertained by the ample show of skin

Greens, grass and vegetables

Baskets holding many

The rotten hidden

Each is felt, be genuine

We choose, what we eat

Same with friends

It's perfectly okay

To choose the wrong ones

So many choices

The things we do

For the dead

Tall and decent, face stern

He smokes the front of his shop

Inviting the gods in us

To shop for more

He sits at the cashier

Beads and bracelets

Mumbling denominations

Making mental calculations

People flock to the counter

He is open for the day

He must be popular

I'm sure he's sane

She runs between two shops

All owned by her

The hard she must have put in

She seems rather lost

People walk in and out

Amused at her antics, I was

We paid

She had no change

She passed by us this time

Her checkered top, and multiple layers

She was way older, a kind heart

She smiled in this heat

Shopping is done for the day

Sweat on faces

Men, tying flowers

Trying not to faint

In this heat

We head round the back

Avoiding the crowd

It's just me

I do not like being suffocated

Feet approach the taxi stand

Taxis come racing in

Anxious for customers

Waiting to go

Red, blue and blue

Drivers observing

We approach blue

The second in line

Red expensive

Meter loose, like a bullet train

We've paid for enough

Drivers have a code

Take the first in line

You can't skip the line

I'm shocked

Rules everywhere

Blasted things, turning brains

Into computerized chips

I'm breaking them

We wait, the red is taken

We dive into the blue

Good driver, a little too soft

Imagine life, without rules

It would be chaos, a little crazy

Then there's fun

Who wouldn't?

He steps on the pedal

U-turning into the next lane

We brace ourselves

He is good

He speaks of rules

Of regulations, in this weird world

People who follow the way of right

Interesting, I pause to listen

Unshaven, his face

He speaks calmly

Of worldly things,

Of duty and karma

Do they actually apply to me

Things of moral

Standards from the past

That have lived into the present

I lose focus

His words a blur

I travel ages back

Men, worshipping cave paintings

Men, making prayers to stone

I see myself amongst them

Having faith

Faith require devotion

Devotion requires time

I have neither

Devotion or time

The sense of going back

That was interesting

The notion of time travel

The world would be a better place

Much better than how it was today

If only we could change the past

Make amendments to our time

We can do it

We can survive it

Why not do it?

Instead of changing time

We would alter event, history maybe

Maybe not to far back

I'm not making sense, I know

But think about it

Time is a human perception

Only we recognize and believe it

It in our heads

This believe of time

Unknown to us

We have been faithful to a religion

A religion known as time

Believing in it

Putting out lives on it

We've died for it

We've rushed for it

We've aged for it

How long have we been lied to?

Its amazing, feeling enlightened

Is the best way to live

To know that

I am no longer a prisoner

To the chains of time

I feel the strength retuning to my body

I feel it in my cells

Spiritually I'm free

What about the rest

The people around me

Would they understand?

If I told them that Time

Is actually a belief?

They would kill me

Maybe hit me

Throw stones and stab me

They would never

Never believe

Thinking about such things

I've lost track of time

I coming back

To reality

In the taxi

The kind man, who made me think

Maybe he knows, he smiles in the mirror

At me

He is now quiet

Driving us across the

Freeway

The irony in it

When humanity is in fact slave

To the system

I wonder, what the driver thinks

He has a strange look on his face

He must be thinking

He must be in a place, far away

Making conversations with otherworldly beings

He must be

His eyes are misty

He comes back

Slightly jolting, I noticed it

Must be the vibration of phone

He opens and closes the cover

He does this a few times

Over the course of the journey

Flipping it, feeling anxious maybe

I watch him, I don't want to die

Especially on the freeways

Run over by vehicles I cannot name

We are nearing our destination

I wonder about my mine

Where would I be in

Say five years time?

Would I still be the same?

Would I be alive?

Would I be sane?

People always talk about destinations

Travelling here and there

Do they come back ready?

To face life all over again

There is truth in words

Especially strangers

We don't know them

They don't know us

We simply talk

We share a few words

That's all

That's enough to make us think

We share a few words

More than enough

To have sleepless nights

 Destination reached

Directions were given

Cash paid and thank you

You made me think

I watched through the glass

As I unloaded the bags

You were lost once again

In your thoughts

Who are you?

A god, a saint maybe

I shall not speak any further

You must be travelling planes

Break down the walls

Poke a hole in the roof

Look up

The stars, the galaxy

That's what I'm talking about

Someone put them there

How did they get up there

So high, so divine

I've lost enough

Especially weight and sleep

I'm not losing my heavens

It's amazing out here

Things we don't see

Not always, not often

Space

Empty, decorated with lights

Stars blinking in

Dying out in an instant

Vast space, actually moving

From left to right

Momentum worth millions of light years

You're lying across my bed

This mattress of stars

Cover yourself, I say

No bed bugs in the sky tonight

You're lying to my face

You're talking me

I'm not hearing a single thing

I'm listening to the celestials

They speaking to me

You're lying, dead maybe

Tonight they've given you a place

Amongst them in space

Did it really happen?

The big bang, all that we are now

And if it were all lies?

Would we still be the same

Lies, lies, lies

No big bang, only theories

Show me proof

I need to see

Touch your heart

Believe in me

Believe in our cosmos

Be free

I want to see the universe

Grant me this wish

God, demon, whatever you are

Show me the infinites

Too much to ask maybe

Go deep within, they say

Where?

Within you

Why search the world outside

You have everything you need

You are self-sufficient

We made you that way

Who?

She walks up the stairs

Panting, putting years on steps

Wait for me

Wait for me

Holding railings

Holding on to life

Mind not giving up

Walk, walk, walk

Stairs conquered, lungs on fire

Burning, feeling good

Victory to old age

I see myself in you

Seeking the old

The glory of gold

Is in its age

She looks the same

Even after years

I remember the photos

Frozen in time

I think it's the food

Maybe the stress

All of the above

Keeping us alive

I hear his voice

Him heading up

Giant of a man

He smiles, reaching out

Firm grip, we shake hands

Holding it there, just a moment

He lets go

What a snob

An air of arrogance

Decked in wealth

Hard work he says

You're joking right?

Finally she arrives

Putting fake smiles at ease

She took care of me

A long time back

As one of her own

She would hold me

Love me

Play with me

Till today, we would laugh

Chubby and round

She would grow into age

With beauty by her side

Finally they arrive

The elders, big and strong

Some small

With big hearts they come

Bearing gifts and power

Knowledge and ancestral strength

This is my tribe

Of long ago

We were warriors

Protectors of lands, rich

Lands soaked in

Blood and treasures

He would

Hold me by my hand

Taking me down to the market

Showing me

What humans are really all about

He would accept me

For my rebellious spirit

Not once did he scold me

He would please himself

With a slice of cake

He a hero

True and bold

He fought for family, only family

Mystery of Rain

Tell me,

Why does it rain?

Forget the science

Yes, yes, I know

The water cycle and what not

Tell me something new

Have you ever wondered?

The mystery behind it

You can forecast

All you want

You can measure

And scale the skies

Count the clouds

For all I care

But think about it

The rain can come

And go

No one to stop it

No one to say yes or no

It can strike you at your lowest

It can flood your senses

Tell me now,

Do you believe in the rain?

Then believe when I say that

The rain knows,

It knows how you're feeling

Your bursts of rage

Your sorrows and tears

The days you sit and

Stare at the skies

Mind blank

Lost,

Without a direction in life

The rain will come

He will bring his whores-

Lightning and thunder,

And drizzle on your head

Telling you to get up,

Get moving

Run along now

Or get wet and

Endure the downpour...

Grandpa had a way with life

Maybe a way with everything

He was will, reincarnated

When he was sick

He pulled through

When he was well

He would flow with it

After all, this is life

He had built us two

Safe havens for crisis

Out in our ancestral land

Go, when you need to

He hid his rage

His past of anger and murder

Beneath the calm of smiles

He would never show the kids

The elders knew

What he was capable of

The friends he had

He was a legend

He would dress in white

Wherever he went

A color easily stained

There was reason:

It gave him strength

I would adore him

For his playfulness

The cheekiness he hid

Unexpected, he would forever be

He would hold on

To the window grails

Shaking his butt

Alternating between left and right

Singing to daylight

All things must come to an end

Great people, great minds

Losing them, too late to regret

He would pick up chair

Holding it above his head

Even in that old age, his anger

His rage, passed down in blood

I knew of my strength

The blood of my people, ancient

Strong, I would use my anger

To protect those I love

Just as the bull

We would love and protect

But provoke us

And you might be dead

He came bearing the marks

Of ones who have learnt the mantras

Invoking verses, speaking to gods

He had finally arrived

On this day to appease dead souls

He would perform ancient rites

Locking horns with the devil himself

Scholars of mystic arts

They been to the other-side

Out of curiosity maybe

More out of necessity, duty

Along with his assistant in white

They prepare

For what is to come

Spirits, demons

Only they can tell

We simply listen, obey

Bring them things, do as they say

Why risk or play

With things we cannot see

The world is filled with frauds

Crooks, who seek thrill in scams

This is fake

He is the real deal

Smoke fills the house

As he recites

Verse, stored in his mind's library

Invoking gods, ancient things

He would speak to us

I do not clearly grasp his words

Failing to hear his commands

He would only smile

Right or wrong

He would correct us

Giving us confidence

To complete our spiritual tasks

Sweat drips from faces

Others tearing and making space

Deeds of smoke and heat

Energy filling our hearts

He calls out to the divine

Requesting for blessings

He would praise them

In every alias known, so many name

He would call out to the dead

Telling them to find peace

Souls would gather

As he speak

The chanting draws to an end

Men and women, children

Rise to pray, to bow

To give up our arrogance and greed

The chanting is stuck in my head

Even as food is served

Words seem to form links

A gentle reminder, the chanting has become

Putting my mind at peace

I'm glad I did this

I feel better

A trip of nightmares

Going overseas, can never be harder

To bear witness to disaster

First-hand suffering

All was okay

Until the rains started pouring

Rising up

Drowning the heat

It should have stopped

The skies were not done

Clouds kept going on

Raging black

He had been travelling between

Towns with his wife

Mid-way, the rain came

Change of plans

They took to a hotel

People stranded on streets

Waters levels

Higher, higher each day

From windows they could see

People neck-deep in water

Trying to find a way

This was a disaster

It showed no mercy

It swept what it could

It killed when it could

The cold was bad enough

Still it rained

Sorrows, no one could imagine

He asked the sky, why?

No reply came from the heavens

It was up to the people to band together

To fight this flood

It was chaos, nothing seen in the last century

Death by water

It seemed like a fictional story

They were living it

Heroes were born, every minute

Cowards were discovered

Politicians fleeing cities

Natives fighting diseases

In times of need

The true face of humanity was seen

How often do we get this?

A necessary change

Up in his hotel

Like a king he would look upon

People, distributing food

He was hungry

He needed food

At level one, people from elsewhere

Had found refuge at the hotel lobby

Making sure to get a room

Not wanting to be out there, wet

He made the effort

To get a taxi, waters lapping his legs

He felt sick, it was upon him

The dread of untreated sanitization

Faces lighted up with the festive season

A time to give

A time to take from the rich

And give to the poor

Subways filled, platforms shaking

I try to find space

Somewhere I can squeeze

City in our veins

We have no shame

Rushing, before doors slam shut

Tunnels leading places

Bringing people to dreams

Out of the sun

Into the dark of reality

Signboards, voices echoing

It's hard to mind your own business

When there's so much to see

People dressed up

They be someone else

Be true

Be free

He is art

In body, in spirit

Violence of past

Behind him

He walks, rushing

Back and forth

Making precise decisions

Back and forth

Such is the life of a bookseller

Committed to the arts

Serving the needs

Of hungry minds

Hair messed up

He would smile, inviting people

To come in

Striking up conversations

Lightning fast, I would say

Always here to aide the reader

To suggest, to question

Buy the book

The book picks us

Almost every single time

You cannot escape

The delight of going

Into bookstores, treasures of ancient

They hold magic

Drugs for the brain

One word to hold you

A sentence or verse maybe

Prepare to be absorbed

I can feel it in my skin

Words leaping into the air

Trying to find a way in

Rest, a thing so simple

It can make you mad

Go crazy, sometimes bleed

Rest, have it your way

The nap is not enough

Not enough sleep and dreams

Get out there, go away

I've seen the madness unfold

Panic attacks in the night

People jumping off the edge

After a long time

How close we used to be

People don't see the real

They think we change

I'm still the same

They think we different

We radical and weird

They think we've changed

I'm here, still the same

You don't tell me things

You don't make me think

You simply do not believe

In us

I've watched you bleed

Taking punches, losing your senses

You still alive

Now live

I've watched you cry

Tears dropping

Just because you compromised

It's okay, it's okay

I've watched you smile

Through all the troubles

You strong, you don't know it

We've been hiding

Underneath skin

Of aging flesh and frail bones

I know you're there

Come out

Come out and play

Waking the human spirit

It's obvious isn't it

This shell, we stay within

Is home to our

Soul

Even in our toughest moments

We can never truly die

We regress

We come back stronger

Even in our weakest state

We can never truly die

We fade out

We blend in again

Even in disaster

Death and the worst

We can never truly die

We survive

Take heart

Take shape

Take form

Buildings lining up my sight

Years of walls

As the call for prayers echo

Bouncing off

Into dreamy ears

Day has done its part

Good job, take a breather

Have beer

I'm being sincere

Evening setting

Rain-drizzled skies

Perfect scenario

A place filled with

Beautiful people

There is peace in the air

A sought of mystery

I wonder what it is

My brain's shutting off

I can understand why

All this writing and drama

I need to feel

The cold of glass

Nice against my palm

Wetting it, feeling it

Mouth full of alcohol

I'm sorry it had to be me

To break it to you

To make you feel the way you do

Tonight...

Truth comes with a price

You win, sometimes you lose

People get up and go

Wooden table bearing our food

Chairs holding us high

Talking, drinking

Something to say

Night is in session

Gloomy yet beautiful in a way

Remains of raindrops

Falling on graves

I keep wanting to say

Maybe pour my heart out

And then disappear

I'm here

It's been far too long

The taste of beer on my lips

Haunting me

Reminding me of memory trips

Wild and young

Beer down the bloodstream

We bear witness to

Our madness

Today, I drink to observe

To comment on things, to make a difference

Not utter words of hatred and rage

Through the gloom

They arrived, into smiles

Welcomed by unusual minds

I seek to understand why

The way some think

It's amusing you see

They almost think

That all is known

He who was dressed a man

Is now a woman

In ear-rings

And a flowered dress

Should I be appalled?

Should I be worried?

For my safety

For my country

Neither, I was perfectly normal

I was bothered by the cold

And the disturbed faces around me

I wanted to understand why

The need for jargon

You confuse others

Do you know why?

Let me tell you

You are confused

Of your identity, of yourself

You think you know it all

You talk of history

As if, you've walked through time

Tell me now

Are your claims even real?

Man, woman, whatever you are

You have every right to live

The way you want

The way you desire

Do not confuse us

I'm reaching out

Cash in hand

One more pint please

Thank you

I've had a little too much

To drink tonight

I'm all right

Don't take me for a fool though

Just because I am quiet

Doesn't mean I don't know

Doesn't mean, I won't fight

Silence is deadly

As is the serpent on my finger

The people around us

They nod, they click fingers

Talking trash, making no sense

Saying stupid things

I'm an observer

I take it all in

I write them here

For the whole world to see

I wonder

Do people actually think

Look around you, they agree

But rarely do they disagree

They don't want t hurt you

The serpent on my finger is itching

Asking for a battle

To taste the blood of idiots

I control the urge

To spit my venom

I've had enough for tonight

Enough beer, enough words

I'm open to your opinions

Don't impose it on me though

A free soul like me

Is here to read your pathetic faces

Not meet out judgments

I'm really nice by the way...

Afro hair, polka-dotted dress

Crossed-legged and listening

Is that glass of wine enough?

You seem to be reeling

I know that look

That mesmerized craze on face

You think it's true

All of it

Do me a favor please

Don't cry, listening and nodding

No need for tears

I welcome the pair

Genders don't matter here

Looking black, dressed black

Making heads turn

That skirt, is it too tight?

I bet it is

Why wear it?

When you can't sit properly

If this country is too much for you

Go home, go away

Find a safe place

Don't come back here

I notice it, that irritating action

Of twisting, twirling your hair

Going round and round

You hypnotizing the crowd?

Thank the gods, I'm high

I close my eyes

Listening word for word

Putting the pieces together

Making sentences

Things slow around me

The mutter of lips

Fingers going places

Is this real?

Games, activities make me nauseous

Standing, clapping hands

Running back and forth between people

Hello, I'm... Forget it

Must be a joke

Talking to a crowd

On impromptu

Without any idea

Now they look into eyes

Telling each other

How stupid they are

Do you think before you speak?

The horror of it

Of tearing paper

Throwing it into the circle

With emotions, throwing hate

Bits and pieces

Floating down, touching the ground

Lying all over the place

Hate scattered

I don't have paper on me

I look at my phone

I could throw it at the fool

Maybe, it would knock some sense into him

One at a time

They come out

Standing on a pile of paper

Beneath their feet

Respect is lost for trees

They pour out emotions

Reciting with feeling, embracing

I can't wait for this to end

They go on and on

No one has anything to say

We sit in silence

Staring at the ground

A minute has gone by

More silence...

Almost time, close to the end

Good heavens, please be quick

I see hands shaking, throats vibrating

The drinks, must be really getting to me

Questions anyone?

Questions you can ask them now

Let's talk

Talk? Like now?

So close, not now

I could stand up

And walk away

I anchor myself to the seat

Woman

Wrapped white to the skin

She speaks, to the floor

Making little eye contact

She is bleeding

Not the way you think

Bleeding emotions

I see faces, struck by her grief

So sad, I think

It really is

But then again

Be happy, have a drink

Guy

Brown dude, really white teeth

You must have OCD

He bents forward, speaking

His question, I was lost

Was that a question?

That was really long

More like story

He has more

He must be really confused

Or really intelligent

His sentences have no full stop

I tell myself

Don't be mean

You know they have things to say

Stop smirking

I rock

Back and forth

On the little wooden bench

My toes are cold

I rub my hands

Count my fingers

Trace palmistry lines

I do not hear the end of it

This Asian man

Sharp faced, fidgety fingers

He is next

No question

He praises the devil

Wow, he was hitting on him

Two guys, meant for each other

I knew this would happen

Sooner or later...

Love, is in the air

Worship the cross-dresser

He speaks of activism

It's getting interesting

The good part, it was coming

And then just like that

It abruptly ends

Class is done

I have people to talk to

I get up, my legs aching

Straining from two hours of sitting

Have mercy

Get better chairs next time

Must be age

Catching up on the drinks

I open the door

Cold winds

Rush in

I freeze

Ghosts rushing in

Must be to talk to sane people inside

They ignore me

Am I not good enough?

Outside, the night is damp

People smoking sticks

Feelings drowning in moisture

Outside

People talk and wait

Lingering for something or someone

Go home, I hate crowds

The café is alive

Becoming dry with time

People flock to it

Wanting a drink

Waiting for a kiss

A day well spent

Drinks, talks and emotions

I will retire for the night

I walk into an alley

I touch the walls

Old, they seem to like it

My touch, if only I had time

I could talk them into cracking lines

Obsession

I have to say this

Yes, right now

I have an obsession

With observing people

Looking at them

Figuring out their next move

I have an obsession

And it feels like madness

Instead of talking

I'm observing

Instead of making friends

I'm observing

Instead of loosening up

My body is tightening

Looking at people

It makes me feel great

Like I'm a god

Looking upon,

My imperfect creations

At first, I felt bad

I gave people

The creeps

That look

Where they would

Want nothing to do with you

I'd been through all that crap

Now I simply watch

Not intensely

But with interest

In human life

The things we see

The things we become

I'm proud of my race

I observe,

I record

For someday

This would be vital

Maybe for our survival

When we have lost,

Our humanity

Flip open my book,

Read it

You'll know why

You'll treasure,

Our strange ways...

How can the night be so bright?

This is not natural

This is insane

What have we done to the black?

I try to find a brush

Something to paint out the lights

I look in drains

I look in bins

The night calms me down

She says, you need to sleep

I reply, what about you?

Have humans no mercy?

To do this to our night

To pain her

To blind her

I have to save the night

A foolish mission

I can do this

I prep myself

The alleys are against me

They confuse me

Changing directions

Misleading paths

I scream at the walls

I say no more lies

I push at them

Show me

Walls do not bend

Nor do they answer

It was waste

I have a job to do

I focus

Making calculations

Drawing on my inner strength

I run with my eyes closed

I hear the roar of engines

I'm out in the streets

I've won the alleys

Now, to save the night

I stumble, I smile

I'm floating

Past all manner of lights

I'm close to my goal

I see it

The park, no lights

This must be it

The core of darkness

Tall trees, stars in the sky

Natural lights, that's okay

My shy moon

Phasing in and out

A stone bench

Cold and hard

I sit on it

Man, I'm so high

I am the key

To saving the night

No more lights

I close my eyes

Dark and black

I did it, I fall asleep

You are happiness, light

Standing in my doorway

Making funny faces

The cuteness in you

You look beautiful

Finally complete

I close the distance

Between us and the stars

Holding your face

Looking into kind eyes

You dance around

Making merry of our home

Laughing at my shock

Woman, please

I chase after you

Holding you

Pinning you down

Had enough?

She giggles

I feel our lips drawn

Mother calls out

I roll away

She runs off

Her clothes in hand

Grabbing the towel

Hoping to rinse away my sweat

She looks at me

Lost, she mouths the words

I was waiting for them

I love you

Closing the door

Behind her, I see her shadow

Silhouette dancing

To soap to bubbles

I hear the crack of the door

She comes out

Throwing the towel

At me

Go bathe

I hate it

Don't order me

I love the warmth of water

Against my skin

Soaping quickly

I need to spend more time

With her, than in here

Cleanliness,

A small price to pay

She is at her finest

Legs showing

Face lit and body ready

For me, only me

Mouth open

She applies her mascara

Eyeliner on point

Those lips, give them to me

She is done

All beautiful and ready

For the night

I whisk her into bed

I toss and turn

Making a mess of the bed

She pats me

Rubbing my back

Just as sleep is about to come

I hear them

The race of raindrops

Heavy on my windowpane

Dropping one after the other

I watch them fall

Eyes close

I'm losing it

I wake up

To a world wet

The rain has decided stay

No going out today

I find her in the kitchen

Making me coffee

Some food to eat

Her body aware of my stare

I come from behind

Holding her hips

I turn her around

Planting morning's kiss

We sit at the table

Staring out

Past the windows

Past the rain

Our attention drawn

To a world

Where all that is wrong

Is damn right

Hands find one another

We hold on

Hard, gripping tight

Surprisingly the rain has stopped

The forecast said otherwise

Time to go out

See the world, again

Dressing up quick

I urge her on

Make it fast

Before the rain is back

Woman, and dressing up

They take their time

Never rush them, its no use

Since ancient times

She is ready

She comes running to the hall

Well then, let's go

Night is near

You beside me

In black, calling the night

You look beautiful

This evening is ours

People stare

I know why

Such a beauty, you are

And that too, beside me

Another couple at the bus stop

They smile at us

We return it, only me

The bus is here

I rush to the upper deck

I hear you saying no, no, no

The bus is moving

You nearly fall off the stairs

They look at you and I

They seem to be in a daze

No need for attention

We head to the back

Two females come up

Their voices, reaching us

Before wild appearances

I had decent in mind

Young punks I guess

Green dye, walking with wide steps

The other

In shorts, too short

Voices loud

They love the attention

Of us, the public

Looking at them

Journey is a mess

The rain, the noise

You my angel

You seem to balance this disaster

Profanities are hurled

Not at anyone in particular

Youth spilling rage

She must have been hurt

Real bad, maybe suffered trauma

For a moment

I felt no hostility

She needed a friend

They needed guidance

The right type of course

Lives are precious

I watch them, hands moving

Writing in the air

Making weird motions

Trauma is real

I feel it in her words

Her black dress

Amplifying her pain

As they got up

I witnessed the cellulite

The thunder of her thighs

Strange marks, dark

My lover, she saw it too

Like cigarette butts

To her legs

Only on the back

I look around

People lost

They do not notice

The pain

The self-mutilation of grief

The man

He looks at my identification

Shocked look on the face

He is amazed at the number

I think of this as weird

To be fascinated with numbers

Life must be a bore

You seek solace in digits

Numbers you believe

Are the gift of the gods

When in fact, we created this fine misery

He cuts the line

Beating those before him

Asian and lost

He stands at the front

They tell him to stand in line

He does not understand English

I watch the show

Another speaks his language

He gladly waits

A moment or two

And when next is called

He skips the queue

Strange guy

The white guy

He was here first

He is passive and calm

Boiling at the absurdity

Of the Asian man

He wants no violence

Looking at his slip of paper

He waits

He is next

He smiles and heads to the counter

The white guy is amused with our system

Of multiracial-nonsensical-integration

The old have arrived

Four women

Sisters by blood, maybe wine

Standing beside us

I was about to give up my seat

To at least one of them

Until they spoke

They were shouting

Women, trying make a deal

Bargaining at strict mobile plans

Are they even from Earth?

The counter lady

Demure, in glasses

A fine smile across her face

Putting up with these elderly

She's lost it

She tells them, relax!

One at a time

People are looking

The gray, do not care

They want it their way

So much noise

For such a small thing

Are you not afraid of angering the gods?

Keep your ideas

Within your head

Caged in your mind

I write to stay sane

To keep my life going

Tell me a story,

Let me join you in words

Each day, I would sit

At the same chair

The same place

Powering on the laptop

Etching its screen with letters

Why do I write?

It takes me places

Some near, some far

Others never here

Why do I write?

These words

Have given me purpose

A destination to reach

Why do I write?

Because I have to

I have something to say

He sits at the café

Lost in his world

He seems to be pondering

Lines forming, frowning

I look at him

He inspires me

Motionless like a statue

Concentrating on the thought process

Mouth open

He begins to lick his lips

Inspiration has arrived

He begins to scribble lines

The laws of a writer:

He or she

Shall not pick a side

Always remain neutral

The laws of a writer:

He shall write

He shall continue writing

Only to stop when there

Is nothing left in the mind

The laws of a writer:

He shall say what has not been said

Or say the same thing

In a different way

The laws of a writer:

Do not plagiarize

Just don't

Thanks.

The laws of a writer:

Do not give up

When faced with writers block

It is part of writing

A very small part

The laws of a writer:

Social life, beer, cigarettes

And lots of exercise

Is an integral part of writing

May you write wonders...

A new cellphone

So much to download

Tapping screen, checking for flaws

You forget the lover beside you

The bookstore is dim

Only a very wet afternoon

Patrons, wander in and out

Finding the perfect verse

A bench across the store

Place to sit, to watch

To observe the craze of humanity

Electric candles lit

Bookmarks displayed

I find mine, not taken

Not exchanged, I take one for myself

People talk in the dark

Writers promoting themselves

Others promoting silence

The guy at the cashier

He smiles, inviting people

Cash register, must be full today

I see a familiar face

A complete asshole, he sees me

Ignoring my presence

I take the hint

The bookroom is lit

Laughter and voices

Escape from the light

More things to see

I step into the room

Cautious, people turn heads

Hey, it's me

You don't me

We're complete strangers

Merchandisers smile

Hoping to make a buck or two

Selling gifts, things we've seen

Poor people, hidden behind

They would attract the crowd

If they were out in the front

I feel for them, something more to this bunch

This people in the room

They seem content, overly happy

Were they high on drugs?

I find myself a book

A collection of poetry

Nothing this country folks would ever read

The type that would pop your eyes

I bought it

The day is gloomy enough

I do want to spend another minute here

The dark getting on my nerves

The asshole, he sees me

I give him my hand

Saying my hello, I take my leave

Snaking into the crowd of the passageway

This church, white and solemn

Is all that remains of ancient in this city

I love this place

More than my adventures

The walls hide mystery

A rich history of a time before

I want to know

If I could

I would sit down

And listen to these walls

Talk

Music is in the air

The emcee walking back and forth

Speaking to diners

Getting them to clap

Retro songs fill the evening

Now the night will come

Faster than before

To dance to the music

Balls of light, hang from trees

Even nature

Has decided to dress up, tonight

I love the energy, this night

People swaying to the music

Great food, beautiful smiles

People from all over the world

Sited at this musical epicenter

Enjoying what's left of our humanity

If only we humans

Could be like this everyday

Wouldn't the world be a better place?

Eventually

You are beside

Cutting into the pizza

You find the fork useless

You use your polished nails

The night has amplified your beauty

Your smile, means so much to me

You seem to agree

You put a slice of pizza on my plate

Telling me, eat

You stare with those eyes

I quietly put my phone away

I don't know if it's the wine or us

Maybe the music

Your leg is brushing mine

Up then down

I look down

To see if you're actually brushing the right ones

I casually look around

Shy, someone might see

You smile, more like smirk

I can feel my hair standing

The static between us, building

I love you, but this here

This is lust, darling

The type that hungers for more

You keep stroking

Moving cold away

Bring the heat into barren places

Feels like a scene from the movies

I keep it together

Holding it in

Deep breaths, keep breathing

You giggle and laugh

Your happiness

Bee Gees, playing in the back

I'm trying to stay alive

You not letting this go

Revenge for playing with my phone

I'm kind of enjoying this

The playful vengeance in your eyes

Sparkling away in the night

You take the glass in your hand

I know what's coming next

Holding it between your lips

You play with it

Wetting it with wine

Raw and strong

I know what you mean

The sex between us

The foreplay is about to end

I sense my danger levels peaking

On the verge of explosions

I have to get out

I start to clap

I feel stupid

We're on the verge of ecstasy

And here I am

Clapping hands, making merry

She looks at me, intensely this time

I have no place to run

Not here, not now

She leans forward

Into my neck, her breath warm

I'm losing control of my ship

Systems disengage, red alert, red alert!

Her leg climbs higher

I dare not breathe

A grown man, shaking miserably

The sight of it

Would make you laugh

No sweat, hold on my friend

Watch as the couple, draw closer

Almost there...

The waiter just had to butt in

The man is flushed red

Just as the wine in the glass

The woman, she twirls her hair

Igniting another round of play

I can see the experience in your eyes

You may be silent

People, don't mess with you

They see your worth

The space is comforting

It's all around us

Why box us in

Open your minds

At the interview

Dressed to kill

Asking paper qualifications

I tell them, I quit

They squat at pillars

Beneath the height of flats

Tapping into wireless signals

They shower once a day

Sometimes powder on skin

They consume what minimum

They go back to sleep

They thrive in working conditions

Far worse off than you and me

Things we would refuse to do today

They would, without complain

Clothes hanging

They need a change

Proper working conditions

People on leather seats don't care

You do your job

You go back home

You do your job well

I pay you something

They come on loans

Borrowed time and money

Sending what they can

Living on nothing

They leak blood into our soil

Build us skyscrapers

Places to rest our minds

We put ten of them to a room

They fall sick

They get up and work

They heart-broken and torn

They get up for work

They work

Sometimes without food

Some days without rest

Because they from foreign lands

And that's okay?

Realization

I know why

I chose the road

Instead of facing her

It was all this built-up

Anger within me

Within my soul

I let it control me

I let it consume me

I should have taken it

By the reins

Held it by the neck

Slammed it shut

Behind that wall

I should have

I didn't

I should have let it out

Scream and wail

My lungs out

Into the humid nights

I should have

I didn't

Now it dawns upon me

The things,

I should have done

The man,

I could have been

I had let my anger

Fester within me

Long enough

I've had more

Than enough

Of this careless rage

I see it now

I'm clear

I'm real

I'm changing

Slowly, making surgical strikes

On my angry nature

Cutting out the beast

Locking it in,

With care and concern

I'm learning every single day

Finding something new,

About me

They cry themselves to sleep

On filthy mattresses

Thinking of home

Thinking of family

They cry themselves to work

In boots and helmets

Finding no solace

In the winds here

They cry, when we not looking

They have to let it out

Or else they might not survive

They are human, foreign workers

Just as you and I

Show them respect

Don't be the barbarians

They call us to be

Food is cooked

In the wee hours of the morning

Losing sleep

To cook for the rest, taking turns

Food is shared, given to all

No one goes hungry

They need to eat

To survive our dictatorship

I've met them

I always talk to them

Making small talk, big to them

They want to share

They have a lot to say

The place they come from

The things they do

The way they treated

They want us to know

They talk with caution sometimes

Some of them, they don't trust us

I mean, why would they

After all we've done

They are loyal to a fault

Big-hearted and wise

The suffering they bear

Is enough to last lifetimes

If you had a choice

Would you do their job?

Could you live like them?

I don't know

I don't think I can

These strong men and women

The odd and laborious things they do

They should be given medals

Garlands upon their necks

We need them

As much as they need us

We need to treat them right

Give them proper food and shelter

We need them

We teach us their way of life

We need to learn from them

Lose our pride and humility

We need them

To work in peace

In stable conditions

Knowing they will go back home

Sited in emergency

He hold his injured hand to his chest

Blood on bandage

A smile on his face

He could not even cry

He had to be brave

This pain was nothing

He said, not seeing his family was far worst

He had lost a part of his index finger

He had 9.5 left, he could go back to work

He had too

Boss, needed him

He would dream of home

The green of rice fields and meadows

He would wake to the roar of city cars

He cannot afford to lie in bed

Out in the sun, open skies

Not a drop of water on lips

No rain from the skies

This is reality, he accepts it

Lunch time, the same food

Heated and packed this morning

Cold now, does it matter?

Hunger haunting the mind

Part one of luxury

A little more rest after lunch

To digest the food

Eyes close, forgetting all pain

Wake to the sounds of engine

Supervisors shouting orders

Rest time is over

Remember your helmet

Mask on, welding pipes

Below him, the rough of waves

Inviting him for a plunge

He seriously considers it

The ship, massive

Rocks from side to side

He hands from harness and rope

Putting metal pieces together

Sparks fly

Slamming into the protective glasses

If not for them

I would be blind

The gloves they give

They protect me from the heat

But the occasional slip or burn

Is a scar to remember

I made this choice

To live with this

To honor my family

To raise funds for my kids

The distance between us

Is but a shadow of time

I will be back

To kids grown

To you old

Some day I will

I am choking as I think of this

Suspended meters above sea

I want to go home

I really do

Sirens fill the seas

This rig,

In a cauldron of salt and water

I climb down

Arms aching back hurting

My beard is long, unshaven

How long? I don't remember

My youth, hardened by the waves

I stare out into the evening

The sun is setting

Across time zones

My wife and children must be waking

Without a father in their home

Dinner, sleep is near

I am now afraid of dozing off

The dreams that I see

They seem like omens to me

Education would have done me good

I have nothing but the experience

Of whipping bulls and plowing fields

I have learnt so much in months

Than I ever had in years

I am grateful for the experience

But being away is killing me

I work harder each day

Harder than anyone else

To forget this pain

The loss in my heart

It feels like only yesterday

Having left home, into the airport

Cheated by a so-called 'agent'

I have years of hardship to look forward to

I have cultivated some bad habits

Over the years among foreign people

Men who are not faithful

Men who resort to drug

I picked up smoking

My parents, my wife and children

What would they say

I cannot give up

I use smoking as an excuse

To take short breaks

To ease the tension of climbing

To ease the urge of suicidal temptations

I watch as the smoke

Float off into the breeze of seas

Not good for health

I know

I love the taste and smell though

I am no longer the boy I was

All innocent and naïve

I know the work

The language of brutes

I fight when needed

Keep a company of good friends

My daily smoke breaks

Months remain

The trick is to remain constant

No need for excessive measures

The winds are in my favor

I light a cigarette

A transport, the ferry is sent out

My time here is done

Out in the open waters of life

Taking me back to land

Pay given, some in cash

Others in money transfers, a few gifts

At the duty free

I treat myself to some

Really good cigarettes and liquor

On board the place

Strapped in and comfortable

I feel like a stranger now

I'm coming home

I'm strangely relieved...

Across the border

Without a passport

No identification on me

But notorious birthmark on my elbow

Running, walking

Moving and slowing

With each day

I lose the weight of home

There is one more to cross

No man's waters

No boundaries

No mercy here

The hills are treacherous

As we make our way

In lines, formations

Find our way

We walk towards into the sea breeze

Walking against

Cold and sharp against our faces

We walk, making the most of day

Finding great waters

Smelling for salt and death

We break open what is left

Of can foods and snack bars

No fork or spoons

We dip in, we destroy metal cans

Parents giving up food for kids

I'm single, brave

No one but me

My family buried

Under the devastation of rubble

When my food runs out

What will I do?

Who will I ask?

I place a hand to my chest

All is not well

People are falling ill

Children, turning pale and zombie-like

Others simply die

Feels like apocalypse

Nothing good about this

I have a pen, a diary

I scribble my horrors

Humanity remains in us

We try to help

We try to offer our best

Even assistance is depressing

Nights are freezing cold

The outdoors like a fridge

So used to furnace-like heat

This is pain

I must sleep

I need it

The walk is still long

Far from complete

Cold needles find pain

Digging deep into nerves

Not going away

I faint, I think

Dreams or memories

I jerk in my sleep

Rambling like a mad man

The things, I'm seeing

Stop, please stop

I see the children playing

On dusty streets

Making funny noises

Chasing desert critters

The old

Slumped in beach chairs

Fanning the heat from body

Women shy, walk in groups

My loving family

Siblings, three of us

Two younger brothers

My teacher mom

My dad, the human forge

Other families, in this area

Looking out for each other

There was love

Passion was elsewhere

I found love in a lady

A year younger

She spoke with her eyes

There was desert magic between us

My friends were crazy

We always had fun

With the rise of the Internet and gaming cafes

We were always crashing computers

We would hide and smoke

Away from the sight of elders

Trying to be all cool and manly

In front of the ladies

The beautiful women folk

Would giggle at us

Daring us to approach and talk

We dare not

We would be stoned

My father found out

About us, our veiled love

One day, after work

I came home

To find her family in my house

On a holy day

With the love and agreement

Of the desert folk

We were married amongst the dunes

We made love

Under the stars, the naked sky

We renewed our vows every year

She bore me herself

A daughter of the sands

My daughter, curly hair

Wide-eyed beauty

She had the angels and demons in her

She was blessed

Three years into our lives

News came of turmoil

Boys were conscripted for war

Being the eldest I said, no

None from my family will serve

Planes, drones and flying objects

Flew over family, home

With weapons attached

I was often at work

I begin to sweat

The people around me

Woke to the sounds of my nightmarish rants

They were superstitious

Some said I had the devil in me

That he had taken over my body

Possessed I dreamt of disaster

Memories of a week back

They dare not approach me

I'm left to my conversation with the devil

Some say prayers

I continue to dream

Always they flew over us

Today they dropped bombs

Destroying home

Destroying all that was love

My family, my parents, my siblings

They had no chance

No voice to say no

They were simply bombed

I heard the drop of bombs

I saw the smoke from afar

I rushed back on my bike

Maxing out its engine

I was there in the evening

The sand had hidden what it could

From my sight

The blood was flowing

Into the streets and from homes

Blood was everywhere

The gods of desert had forsaken us

Our faith, our religion was of peace

Instead we had become targets

I find the remains

Of my history, my time
The people, now fragments

Of my memory

It's flowing, the tears

The rage, so young

So old, they had so much to see

I was to take them on foreign trips

I'm on my knees

Hands held out before me

Begging to the gods

To metal birds,

To take me to heaven's gates

No reply came

From above

They are sleeping

Ignorant of my tragedy

I am not sited on the ground

Head hung, lost

Knuckles on the ground

I feel the touch of blood

I look at my hand,

The shades of crimson

I am afraid

I don't want to die

I have to live

I have to go

Now

I search among the rubble

Pulling and pushing aside debris

Finding familiar faces

Crying and whispering to them

I take what I can

I pull out the bodies I can

I bury those

I cover the rest with unapologetic sand

The sun is up

The night before lost to my sorrows

I'm on my knees

Saying one last prayer to my kin

The border is far

Just after the horizon from here

From a portable radio I find

People are leaving the land

Citizens are fleeing their homes

The unlucky ones us have survived

We can no longer remain

We run

They are headed for the border

So am I

I scavenge what I can from destruction

Each city is a treasure

There is only so much I can carry

My shoulders

My back is hurting

From the hauling my loot

Sand preserves the horrors

Saving us something to carry

I find things

Everyday, I sort my inventory

The dunes are unforgiving

Whacking me with sand and wind

Turning nature against me

And the remains of my society

Within three days

I am walking with other survivors

Some talk

Others don't

They have masks of horrors

The ones who don't talk

Constantly dying each minute

Sometimes it gets us

The sorrow and depression

Every now and then

Someone would fall to knees

Even the children do

I can imagine the combined terror

An attack against us

Against innocence without trial

Why are we to suffer

For the crimes of others?

Tell me, tell me

Give me an answer

The dream, my world is blacking out

Please I want to see them

My family, my loved ones

I wake to the east

Prayers calming me

Our paces have slowed

We are climbing ridges

Finding ways to the sea

None know the way

The winds are treacherous

People do not talk to me

They think I am crazy

All because of a dream

I walk within sight of the pack

Still far

I can't hear them talking

Always stealing glances

The sea is close

I hear them kids shouting

People are running

Losing the weight of belongings

We running up the last stretch of hills

From this height

We can see

The sea, cold

People are chattering excitedly

Talking about foreign lands

Speaking about change

I for one am not convinced

Why would they accept us

Who would let

A stranger

Into their homes?

It was too good to be true

We had paid our life and wealth

To be smuggled across continents

I don't see our saviors

Is this all a farce?

I don't see boats

I see empty shores

We camped by the windy shores

Feeding off what we can

Building fires

Talking stories

They said they would be here

They said they would take us away

They promised things

They were breaking out spirits

I had time, a lot of it

I would go around the camp

Of sleeping bags and lost faces

Mending things

That's what I do best

We were running out of food

We were running out of drinking water

The irony of being next to the ocean

Water aplenty

Not to drink but drown

I conserve my energy

Rationing my food

Solving problems inside my head

I try not to move too much

The people do the same

They huddle in families

With friends by their side

I cuddle my backpack

They arrive, one morning

A boat small, not enough to fit us all

It was still far away

I'm making assumptions

The boat is in low waters

They call out to us

These men, they look rowdy

Nothing of gentlemen

They haul us in

I swim ahead of the rest

Some struggling behind

Others still standing on shore

The people left on the shore

Are saying things, shouting to us

I cannot hear against the waves

I ignore those who cannot swim

I have lost everything

I am not about to lose my life

Not for these people

Not for anyone

The remaining on shore

Begin to walk back

Turning back on freedom

They are shaking heads

Why would they not come with us?

Have they not suffered

And seen enough?

Too many questions

I will answer them at the right time

Some are drowning

Finding something to hold on

I look at them

I feel something

I have no more pity

The toughest will survive

I see people slip under the water

Never to rise again

I see belongings floating

On deck, the saltwater stinging my eye

I feel refreshed from the swim

The smugglers are force us below

Inside the deck

I find space

There were people in here

From other parts of the world

Packed like can food

They smell, the stench of urine

There are untold horrors in here

I turn around to go back up

I am kicked in my chest

The people in here were demented

Some talking to themselves

Others talking

Looks like the devil

Has gotten a hold many others before me

I now know

Why some had refused to leave

They had info of such drastic conditions

Inhumane

For freedom we would run

For freedom we would do anything

Sell our souls to devil

If we must

The journey had begun

Into unknown waters

The smugglers seemed sure

They made small talk

Some did, often to women

Daylight would streak in

Through the cracks in the walls

Water would seep in

Drying up, leaving us salt to eat

It was hard to sleep

It was getting harder to live

The boat would stop

At random times of the day

I had lost all sense of time

It was dark and humid

Except for the occasional sunlight

The days I don't remember

Everyday someone would fall sick

It was atrocious, I fear disease

I kept myself covered at all times

Avoiding human contact

I did not speak much

I observed with caution

I made mental notes

Of everyone and myself

The small boy

Would often hide his head

Between the breasts of his mother

Peeping at me

I would stare

The old man at the other end

He was too frail now

I see his chest moving

Up and down

Thank god, he isn't dead

A young couple

She reminded me of my wife

He would hold her

Making sure no one gets too close

Wildfire

I saw it start

The ember of the gods

Smoking, smiling, smoking

The fires come alive

Burning hot and bright

The night is angry

Mad with rage

Flames licking dry grass

Intensifying as it eats

Burning, burning

I see before my eyes

The smoke and fire

I'm on my knees

As creatures come running

From the flames

Insects, animals

Predators big and small

I am humbled,

They do not eat me

Skidding, sliding

Finding a way

From the burn

Of the plains

I'm up on my feet

Rolling my sleeping bag

I have to leave

To let go of sleep

And run from dancing devils

The fire is spreading

Leaping from grass to twig

Burning under the ground

Finding sustenance from deep

Drunk on disaster

Flames arc around me

Leaving me but one direction to run

I take up the offer

The challenge to survive

I run holding on to sleep and life

The remains of my revelations

And a messy diary

I run, because I can

Into the wild of night

Far away from the sight

Of red-yellow-orange

Burning, burning

Turning peace,

Into an unspeakable plight...

One of the smugglers

A bearded man, in his late 40s

He unlocks the latch, sending us out

To do our business in the nights

I call them the, best of friends

They would always be heard laughing

Unlike the seriousness of smuggling

They seem to find it fun

There is the croon

Who laughs to herself

The journey had made her mad

She curses out at us

Mostly me

So many more

I would love to talk about them all

Then, there is me

The loner

Who sits at the corner

Which is always clean

I keep it that way

I lash out at people who take my place

I hide what little of food I have

In pockets, my khaki pants

I eat at night

Sleeping during the day

Sometime I sleep the day away

I guess others do the same

Water is nigh

Death is high

The old man, the one alive

He's now dead

I mumble a prayer

Thrown into the sea

More space

The journey drew to s close

I could feel it

People were dying

This was how it all ends

I would slip in and out

Of reality and delusions

Loved ones speaking to me

Gentle waves rocking me to sleep

I find myself awake

At odd times

I would wake

Touching myself, I am not dead

My body, my mind

Is now frail, alive

Starved of land

The smugglers too

Are down in numbers

The best of friends

No longer laugh

Because one is dead

The ruffian who opens the latch

Is at the bottom of the seabed

A new guy opens the doors

I go out for air

Not to urine

Or excrete

Nothing left but

The toxicity of war

The numbers have dwindled

The remaining survivors and crew

Are but ghouls and skeletons

Everyday when I wake

I pray that I am alive

I have not lost faith

The rest have forgotten faith

They live on suffering

The burden of voyage

I hear screams

People talking loud

Everyone in here is awake

I feel water against my legs

Water is seeping in

Good weather throughout the journey

And now this, more cracks

The boat, giving up on us

Everyone is now moving towards the corners

Some are screaming at the smugglers

They come down to check

Handing rusted buckets,

They lock us to our fates...

We stand

On empty stomachs

Knees trembling at out fate

No place to rest

If we die out here

We all die together

At least

In death, I am not alone

At this point:

Metal buckets, pointless

Life, pointless

I want to give up

I want to throw it all away

I would lie down

In waters knee deep and drown

Survival

Holding me back

Stopping me from stupid acts

The scene is grim

A stage of water

Actors standing in position

Playing out our disaster

Legs are aching

Some are bearing the weight

Of children and belongings

No end to this madness

We lean against the inside

Some have given up

Sitting in our sea

My upper body dry

My lower wet

Wrinkled now

Evolutionary trait they say

Not giving up

Not now

Not anytime soon

I will hold out

I join the rest

Finally sited

Switching between

Kneed and buttocks

Our luck maybe

The water has stopped rising

Staying on point

Wrecking our souls

I feel sick

Seawater sloshing

Back and forth

From end to ends

I feel hot

Heat rising within me

Bones aching at joints

Could this mean something?

I am to go

To end my stay in this world

I fade out

I am conscious again

This time

My world is a blur

Slow, magical to me

I feel sickness

Throbbing my head

Bile coming up

I hold it in

The boat

Swaying with the waves

Not helping

They need to open the latch

I need to puke

Finally, I heard them

The sirens and loudhailers

Blasting out warnings

They upon us, our gods

I could hear the sounds

More boats, others silent

Cruising around us

Reeling us in

The jerk

Almost spitting my heart out

We are saved

The latch is opened

A stern face, in uniform

Looks at us

Shaking heads, calling us out

We climb, those that can

The rest had to be pulled

Assisted by strong men

We were clinging on to our skins

They ask us

How many days has it been?

We don't know

We don't care

Do you have food?

Drinking water?

We were rushed out to shore

On speedboats

Making a few trips

There were tents

And strange languages

More of us

People who have arrived

On stony beaches

Tents were pitched

The red-blue flashes of vehicles

Emergencies plaguing my people

Some dying, others dead

Bodies covered

I could not bear to see

The death

Especially those of children

The young had so much to see

The kids, now lie in tents

Without parents, others without siblings

Losing someone at every point

Why this suffering?

Infants drinking form milk bottles

No mothers to breastfeed

No fathers to play

What wrong have we done?

The gods, I call out to them

From my country

Across the border

This voyage

In this tent

They have forsaken me

I still have hope

A tiny flame

I carry this burning fire

Everywhere I go

Into society, this foreign land

A new life

I am afraid

I really am

Fear keeps me alive

It has been long

Since I walked among humans

Yes, people

Us

I see faces strange

Weird features

Almost like

Everyone is part of someone else

Population is growing

Our planet is dying

People are

Becoming something more

Countries are opening up

People are moving

Travelling into the unknown

Many things to see

Many things to do

So little time

This lifetime, not enough

People are educated

No formal education, they learn

Walk fast, think fast

Crunching information

We moving too fast

Expanding like demons

Killing nature, killing time

Slow down

We cannot

We cannot afford to

Money is first

Humanity later

Minds are poisoned

With brands and lust

Runways and digital toys

We are heading the wrong way

Look at us

Studying to pass

Not to learn

Go to college

Go to university they say

Get a loan

Pay a debt over five to ten years

Forget about living

Stress to repay

Stress to study

Stress to live life

Go die

Everything is wrong

But love, it exists

Between the folds of madness

This life

I did not expect this

I see hands trembling

From cigarette and drugs

People paying cash

To slip into coma

Couples fighting

In public, inside homes

At the office

On the way to work

Where is the love?

Inside our pockets

Have we kept it aside

Do we have bigger things in life?

We evolved to think

We making wars

We not thinking

We killing

We call ourselves humans

We put the word to shame

We are demons

Nothing good

When all is lost

We go looking for love

Why look for love now?

When we should have done it from the start

Why stop killing now?

We should stopped it then

When we had the chance

Why stop living?

We should have done it

With heart and soul

People think life is easy

You grow up

You make money

You get married

You die

No, my friend

You live life

You suffer, you fail, you fall

You rise and then you go

There are good and bad people

It is your choice to figure them out

One thing for sure

No one is born evil

Along the way

We lose our focus, we run wild

Turn to the good in people

Make them realize

Make them decide

Choice is always good

There is a voice in all of us

Speaking to us

Consoling us

We need to listen

There is pride in all of us

We need to lose

Kill the ego

Straighten our spine

There are sins

Far too many to describe

They are part of us

To be human

Is a cycle of life and doom

Black and white

The opposites

To be human

Is to be free

Without restrain

To express our art

To be human

Is to love

Show a little compassion

Make love

Under the black and gold of night

Starbucks, a home to some

People gather

On caffeine moods

Sited for hours

Meeting clients, talking business

Take your deeds elsewhere

Why here?

I can hear your deals

Hours at a time

I watch them

Turn a café

Into home

Home is where

The heart is

Where feelings are born

Where humanity

Is first taught

Love your home

Love your body

Home and body

Worship them

We take home for granted

We don't realize

Until too late

Build your own

Then you will understand

I find us

We humans napping in public

Taking a rest

Closing eyes, dreaming

Others with eyes open

Pages at a standstill

Head slumped in paper

His studies has led him

Into sensual dreams

On park benches

Camping in tents

We find them, without a home

Doing just fine

The people of the street

They have no place to go

Some without a family

Others chased away by loved ones

Welcome to the other side of society

Where dreams are big

Where hearts are big

No money, no home

You take to the streets

Huddled between the gaps

In the wall

You try to squeeze in

Hoping to make your way through

Cement and bricks

Some have plates before them

Some bowls or cups

Drop your coins in

I don't need your pity

You can walk away

If you don't like my face

We have good days

We have bad days

Just because we on streets

Doesn't mean we not human beings

It's hard out here

It really is

I'm not complaining

I'm telling you exactly how it is

We make friends with everyone

Anyone, who comes by

We say, hello

We say, thank you

Sometimes, goodbye

We meet the strangest people

Some like us

Some don't like us

They think we got diseases, leprosy?

More like fear of the homeless

We don't just sit and wait

We play music, busk in the sun

Do stunts, entertain your eyes

Give me a high five, a buck maybe

Do what you want

Don't ignore us

Don't say bad stuff

Life didn't turn out the way

We wanted for us

Once in a while

We get people

Kind ones

Who talk to us

Sit down for a chat

Charities approach us

The media puts us on TV and papers

Police officers screen us

We don't mind the attention

There are days

We want to be left alone

We want to be indoors

Warm and cared for

Is this too much to ask for?

To have a family

Some friends

Beer and the comfort of home

Today,

I look at the ground

Below my feet

I ask myself two things

Why me?

Am I going to die alone?

We are the people of the street

We have love

We have freedom

I see robots striding

We are the street

The life of tar, pavements

Where did all the humans go?

I watch

Some days I starve

I live for the moment

Wild and free

Come to the streets

Where life is real

People are fake

You'll learn a thing or two

Come to the streets

Stay and watch

You'll see good and bad

You'll see the real ugly

The beauty of us homeless

Come to street

Stay all you want

You might say otherwise

But this is truly home

I tried being normal today

I couldn't

I just

Could not

I couldn't breathe

It's about being yourself

Taking life by its horns

Making it your own game

It's never about others

In this world

There is only, I

Good luck trying to be

Someone else

Doing odd things

Feeling uncomfortable

Good luck trying to

An overnight success

No, you work

You bust your ass

You make it big

Good luck trying to

Do the same thing every single day

You become a robot

A mechanical being

Break out, you'll see

Great way to conquer a seat

Leave your bag there

Go away

Customers frown

Should we throw it away?

One slouched reading

The other talking

Over cups of coffee

Words wasted,

Clearly he isn't listening

Our food is served

Elegantly with knife and fork

Just tuna sandwiches

No need for pomp

She climbs up the escalator

Like a buffalo

Stepping hard on steps

We understand your need for attention

This is art

No need for planning

No need for order

Use the moment

The strangeness of people

When I go to a counter

A queue forms behind me

What were they doing all along?

He stands in the drizzle

Handing out flyers

The look on his face

I'm doing my job, no sweat

His boss sits under the shelter

Monitoring him

Keeping count on the flyers

Henpecked by his bosses

He gives in to their words

Finally handing over his flyers

Ending the day, drenched

My camera is sick

It rewinds

It blinks to me

Showing me signs

I cradle it in my palms

I have to do something

Fix it

Or scrap it

I turn you off

I place you in a casing

More like a coffin

Made of plastic

Strapped to my wrist

We go out into the rain

To Chinatown

They might answer my questions

We arrive, still raining

Killing my mood

I see crows circling

Ill omens guiding me

I find my way to your shop

You are eating

You stop

I hand over my baby

You take a pen

You meddle with her

Poking her

Prodding her

Wake up

I'm on the verge of tearing

When you said

She was beyond repair

I did not believe you

I apologized for ruining your lunch

I hold you

Gripping tight

I will fix you

I find a bus

That will take me to a doctor

A professional one

Not hindered by hunger

I find you standing in your shop

Mending lenses and bodies

I know, you are real

Filled with passion

You take her from me

You gently examine her

Feeling the body

Now the interior

I watch

You too tell me

Nothing can be done

You cannot be saved

But there is still hope

Find the technician he tells me

I sense a sliver

A tiny flame

Sparking to life

I cross the road

Finding a building by name

You are not there

An away sign

I stand near the outlet

I find a number

I call, hoping for an answer

Gurgles and curses

Someone's not happy

Killing me with sounds

I received a call back

The technician

He sounded calm, almost serene

His voice

Storyteller

The roads are

Neither hot nor cold

This time of the year

Just right, I would say

I must have mentioned before

Of talking to myself

And something extraordinary

Has come out of it

How this might interest you

I have no idea

I will say it anyways

My words,

The things I've been saying,

They've become stories

For a few days now

I have realized

No longer do I say random

Or crazy things

But I'm speaking with structure

A poetical flow,

You could say

Spinning stories both

True and false

Weaving them into

Beautiful pieces

How I wish I could

Tell my stories to someone,

A crowd maybe

I would love to

I haven spoken to many

On my journey

But today, I have this longing,

Yearning to speak out

To inspire those

Who would spend

A few minutes

Listening to a

Piece of me

Spoken with

Heart, soul

And the experience

Of miles on feet...

He will be back in ten

Enquiring the model, the problem

He will return

Wait, he says

I am unable to stay still

I find women

Some attractive

Others simply, vulgar

Around the corner

I wonder how a business place

Such as this

Could harbor such

Sensual services

Were these women legal?

Were they plying some

Other form of trade?

I decide to take a walk

Round the corner

Into the dark

I find women

Sitting near full-framed

Glass windows

Smiling coy

I knew it

My thoughts were right

This was some something else

Hidden behind the pretense of

A simple massage

They shifted as I walked about

Slowly pacing down the passage

Curving into the main area

I watched as they turned heads

Finding a reason to lure me in

I was waiting for it

Hoping one might do it

One did, lady in a yellow dress

She stood up

Opened the door, waving to me

Come in, come in

I raised an eyebrow

I shook my head

She got the message

No

She felt offended

She had it on her face

Going red

I was looking for the intriguing

I got it

That too in a renowned place

You find the strangest things

In the most common areas

I watch as he

Walk back into his shop

A man, old

Dressed modern

I take my baby

This is it

I walk into the shop

We greet

I introduce myself

Can you save her?

One look at it

This is ancient, old

A costly one

Back in the days

Now this is

He is lost for words

Amazed, how a guy

A young guy like me

Is hooked to this thing

I had a thing for the old

Vintage things, clockwork

Running on steam

They make me tick

He has said enough

No more talk

He takes the steel

Finding his way

Into the root of the problem

A minute has passed

The lenses are moving

Finding something

Finding me

One last look

He takes a toothpick

Hitting the spot

I hear the rewind

Motors grinding

I find some hope

To cling on to

If only he could make it work

He had to

I'm losing my mind

Watching mechanical systems

Start and stop

He brings her next to me

He says, she's taking it all now

Her shutter is gone

Her circuit board is fried

She's holding on

The words hit home

I'm choking

He knows this means the world to me

He goes ahead

He says it

You have to let her go man

You have to

She's at her end

There's nothing I can do

There's nothing you can do

I put her into her casing

Her plastic coffin

I hear her last few breaths

Rewinding, vibrating case in my hand

The skies crying for me

Things I say

Are almost random

Just as the world, the life

In and around us

She makes her face

Like that of a tabby cat

Imaginary whiskers puffing out

Finally the words

Come flowing, into the mind

She had to turn on the music

Loud and noisy

It is afternoon now

Heat gathering on heads

Finding souls to burn hollow

Light is stuck to curtains

Clinging on to her life

Windows wide open

Let the Sun in

Almost never, almost good

I'm sitting on my ass

Sneezing into tissues

Quarantine me please

Skies, blue and clear

The heavens are happy

No sign of rain

All is well

Clouds dance

To the peace below

Travelling continents

Spreading love

What's left of joy

Gods have mercy on us

Why this ordeal?

Of heat, rain, heat, rain and repeat

White ball of fur

My cat, Leo

My lion

His hair invading my air

He becomes a spaceship

Every now and then

Hoping to blast off

Instead he sleeps

You talking to me

I know you are

Purr, purr, more fur

You want food?

Get it yourself

Thank you for the nights

The lonely days

The times you kept me company

Awake or unconscious

Thank you

I owe you food

I'm writing, making words count

Stop staring at me

Hiding around corners

Waiting for me

Listening to footsteps

My heavy breathing

Jumping on me

You know I love you

With all my heart

But you becoming fat

You know I love you

With all my soul

But don't seem to care

You know I love you

And you love me

Come cuddle with me

No matter the night

You walk rounds

Hunting nightmarish pests

Good job

No matter the night

You never fail to kill

To have blood on paws

No matter the night

You never fail to watch

As I sleep in peace

There is something about your eyes

My little one

You seem to see through me

They bore through skin

Going deep

Into the beyond

Tell me what you see

You rarely say

You brush against me

Curling your tail around my leg

You lie on your back

Belly in my direction

Lazing in the afternoon heat

You wan a rub?

Let me do my work

Jumping on paper

Scratching my works

Fur between pages

Yes, yes, yes

My self-centered friend

It's all about you

Isn't it?

Nine lives you have

All for yourself

Nine souls, trapped within this body

Nine live you have

Hidden from human sight

Nine ways to die

Nine lives you have

Give me one

Don't be stingy

We can take over the world

It is days like these

That we get to sit back, relax

Spit curses at the sky

Forget about the killings

The mad stuff

People trying to turn heads

Take a pill, chill

Not necessarily a drug

Make love to life

So much good to go around

So much faith and love to share

I don't need you to trust me

You feel that?

Enough of being keyboard warriors

Making small things

Into viral sensations

Enough of bullying

Step up to your villains

Show them you're

Not afraid

People nowadays

They want to travel the world

They want to see things

They don't want to change it

There is much fear in change

But why?

Things will not be the same

You and I

Will not live forever

For change to happen

Good and bad must happen

It's how it begins

Finding love is a problem

We have too many choices

Far too many expectations

Finding love

The word itself is a problem

In this age

Love is the devil

If finding love is a problem

You shouldn't be alive

Love is nature

We feel it from birth

When love, happened to me

The world had stopped

She, in slow motion

My scene in black and white

It was a long time back

Nearly a decade

I still remember

That moment, you smiled

The first kiss

Under the railway track

Your eyes closed

Mine open, rude

You did not mind

I would find you

Wherever you were

I would come

No matter the distance

Time had died

You and me

In every moment

You don't have to trust me

Love me

That's all I need

I would bring you gifts

Kiss and hug you

Make you laugh

You liked me

It took you time

I knew it was you

It had be

My gut feeling was always right

You brought out my passion

My fury and lust

I would die for you

To speak, to say

The words

I would wait

Sacrificing my body

In heat and rain

You finally said it

You loved me

I never slept that night

In our age

Couples loved through phones

Making talk, smooching

Over digital screens

We knew we had to meet

To talk, to adventure

Two souls, hand in hand

A man, a woman

Screw all gender

The need to touch

To hear your voice

I would die for

Problems were part of us

In love, in life

A part of humans

Most people would choose

The easy way out

Breaking-up over petty trials

The ones, who have loved long enough

They know the truth

We fix them, patching problems

Solving relationship equations

We are human

we have lived a life full

Of passion and treason

We've done it all

We made war

We straddled peace

We always made it

Through the worst

The toughest of times

We simply, survived

There is more to us

Our tenacity and grit

If only it were so simple

To live, survive and die

We made fire

We made weapons

We stabbed our friends

We had sex

We had children

We gave them a purpose

We taught ourselves to feel

To talk, to communicate

We wove lies

We taught ourselves to fight

To resist and rebel

We took bribes

We found adventure

We found ancient treasures

We sold them for fortunes

We were made for sex

From the beginning, till today

We find pleasure in it

Our escape from immortality

Men, went out to hunt

Built tools and homes

Made love

Made babies

Times have changed

Men come home

Lazy in ties

Slouching at the TV

We were made to love

To show care

To help each other

Instead we ended up killing our kin

Women were built to survive

To outlast, to procreate

Bring lives into this world

The women of today

Go to work, rise to power

Make feminism sound like war

Splurging on weird trends

This is humanity at its finest

I've said before

I will say it again

If you don't know us

Don't say anything

Personally we were meant

To be the only intelligent species

On this planet

We did, we forgot the rest

We became cruel, self-centered

To put it bluntly:

Ignorant

Show us money

We will run around the world

Speak to us of treasures

We will race off into hell

Show us naked bodies

We will forget loyalty

Sadly, repenting later

Show us love

We would think

We would frown

We would actually think twice

Why?

We humans

We are a weird bunch

At the brink of disaster

We band together

We humans

We are a strange bunch

We lack trust

We humans

We are an erratic bunch

We rarely think

Always acting on impulse

Humans and love

We always confuse it

With hurt, disaster and pain

Love is beautiful

Love is crazy

Turns you inside out

Love brings out the best

In you, me, us people

Don't confuse it with pain, please

Love keeps us alive

Somewhere in the universe

Another race, out there

Might be watching us

Spying on our orgies

Love as much as you can

With everything you have

Love, give love

Don't demand it

Love is our vow

Our soul, our death

Love me now

Don't wait

Planets and stars

Fill the abyss of space

Hidden beyond our comprehension

There is life out there

Life hidden away from sight

Waiting for the right time

To arrive

On starships, they leave

Finding souls to save

Finding people to love

Aliens, are they real?

Are they a part of us?

I feel it, amongst us

They walk

Waiting, watching

Telling us things

Making us better

However did humans come to be

Don't think

It would give you a headache

A higher power

An advanced race maybe?

Seeding us, breeding us

Inside test tubes and containers

We were put together

To evolve to think

We became out of hand

We started to crave

For greed, for power

We killed our creators

We made our own

We believed in invisible beings

Welcome to Earth

This is ours

Maybe, they tried to reason

They tried to speak

To control us at our peak

We refused

We refused to bow

We refused to believe

We took to steel and arrows

We slaughtered

Killing our own

In the process

Do you feel proud?

Now walk with me,

Across time and space

Watch as history unfold

Of us humans trying to

Fly into space

Landing on the moon

Planting meaningless flags

Welcome to space

Unchartered territory

Go where you like

Do what you like

Just don't die

What if all of this

Was an experiment

This habitable globe

To test us subjects

Think about it

This is all fake

Indians call it Maya

Illusion, not real

Would you believe?

If I said they

Are plotting our wars and trouble

They

We are too busy caught up

In our fast-paced lives

We are living shorter

Dying out faster

Glued to phones and screens

We do not see the conspicuous

The truth

Look and you will see

Seek and you shall find, they say

We seek material pleasure

Dive within our body

Search our minds

The answer is there

We have been living delusions

Go deeper

Into our souls

We have lost the magic of touch

To relate, to forgive

Even sex, the merging of bodies

Is merely entertainment...

You see my words

You read them out loud

This is magic

Books, we hold in our palms

All that remains

Of our ancient and rich ancestry

Are clad in leather, paper

For the eyes to read

For fingers to feel

Write

Keep the magic going

Keep it alive, for generations to come

The future is grim

I have one last thing to say

You've come all this way

From page one to here

You are human

Never doubt yourself

Never look back

It's okay to fear

Move forward

From shadows into light

You are you

No one can take it from you

Love, change, be brave

Be forever, my friend...

Coming Home

I've made up my mind

To return

To go back to

Where it all began

The anger in me

The need to escape

The words on the wall

Making time

Watching you go

And come home late each day

You do not look me in the eye

You don't talk to me

I'm coming home

I don't expect you

To welcome me

The home we once built,

Was ours

A part of me,

And a part of you

I'm stronger now

I'm better

I know what has to be done

I have to

Make things right

If not for you

I have to do it

For myself

I've made sense

Of the world around me

I've seen things

Most wouldn't have

I've done things

I'm not proud of

I've accepted them all

I'm accepting you

For whatever you have become

I don't count the days

I have lost count by the way

How long has it been?

Since we were us

And not separated by

You and me

How long has it been?

To fix myself

To change

I can only imagine

Your face

I have not added the years

To your age

How long more?

I cannot wait

I'm hopping vehicles

Jumping trucks

Hitching rides from strange people

Who seem aware of my plight

I'm racing back

I know the time is right

It is spring

Across the country

A new beginning

Things blooming

Creatures waking

I believe in us

And I cannot imagine

A world without one of us

I should not have left

I should have worked things out

I had to go

I just had to

You had a feeling I would,

Someday leave

There was always a maybe

I might return

I am, begging the winds

To make my journey faster

I am, begging the gods

Let my journey be smooth

Void of obstacles

Bring me safely home

I forget about food

That I need to eat

I cannot think

I must return

To my rightful place

My lips are dry

My throat cracking

I'm nearly there

After the turn,

On the corner

Of the third

I'm running up

The spiral stairs

Backpack banging

Against my hips

Running,

I'm at the door

I'm tearing

My hand goes up to knock

I pause

I'm ready

I'm prepared

What if there was

Another man in our bed

We can talk it out

I'm not about to let

My anger wrest you from me

I knock,

One, two, three times

No one

I turn the knob

The door is unlocked

I'm inside

The smell, the walls

They are the same

Even the furniture,

Everything seems to be in place

No one is around

The calendar

Is showing: 1st April 2016

It's a Friday, 5.45 in the evening

The splendor of time

I concede,

I'm on my knees

Nostalgia ripping me

Bit by bit

My conscience

Hammering my heart

Why did I leave?

Why?

I'm looking at my palms

The dirt on my skin

I hear footsteps

I turn around

I see you,

My beautiful queen

Standing in the doorway

A small boy of three,

The embodiment of us

Peeping from

Behind your knees

You were pregnant,

Why didn't you say something?

You are on your knees

In front of me, smiling

Holding my face, tearing

Finally, making sense

Of our lost years...

End.

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About the Author

Elancharan is an exhibiting artist and poet. He resides in Singapore with his family and cat, Leo. He has a strange love for all that is poetical and Sci-Fi. He is the author of several, modern poetry collections. His poetry works has been published on various international print and online platforms. To view his intriguing array of creative works visit Instagram: @elancharan or Twitter: @elancharang

