Reuel International Poetry Prize Winner
(1) We were two souls, and our destinies were pre-destined, Providence brought us together, first on the social media, and then on to our Nikaah night, A rainy April Nikaah night; (2) Soon Spring would welcome us as it does for lovebirds, A love-slumber would lull us into a trance – till dawn; In all […]
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Life is like a crowd of sorrows and a handful of happiness, The garden of grief and the garden of glee are watered by the same Gardener, The vagaries of life even at odd hours, The binaries of odd and even; So – I begin to smell as I breathe, I begin to feel as […]
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The other morning I felt as if the fallen leaves were walking along with me, This morning – I saw them getting drenched in the rain, I heard them drinking the rain; Remember – How after a downpour, raindrops would precariously hang like pearls on strings use to dry clothes on rooftops; Then – On […]
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Soon after dusk, my heart began to settle down, and by nightfall, my heart overpowered me; Pre-Dawn – Two kisses suddenly wake me up, Only to find your shadow asleep beside me, Then – on the adjacent wall, I couldn’t see my reflection, I felt myself without a soul; Remember – The previous night I […]
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Why do I? I really don’t know: But – Can anyone ever express how romantic the rains are? Or how it feels when two lovers get drenched in the rain for hours, and not care about a probable paracetamol later? Can anyone feel, and not hear the subtle sounds of rain pelting on the supine […]
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Tolstoy didn’t possess the chiseled features of an aristocrat, Once upon a time there were two hearts and they didn’t live happily ever after, Minors are raped and sometimes rapists are minors – so they go scot-free, The bride was enjoying vermicelli with the vermilion on her forehead, Prostitutes are virgins the following night, In […]
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(1) I now live in a city: A city that sleeps and sleeps and sleeps, Even Mumbai is a city that now sleeps; (2) I now live in a city: Where the only pollution is the pollution of silence, Where even eeriness is hush-hush now; (3) I now live in a city: Where people stand […]
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(1) Dawn – reluctant: The big orange ball of fire was playing hide-and-seek; (2) Overcast skies: The big orange ball of fire was still playing hide-and-seek; (3) Dusk – reluctant: The big orange ball of fire was playing hide-and-seek – again; (4) Sunny skies: The big orange ball of fire wasn’t playing hide-and-seek; (5) Draped […]
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(1) In a hamlet far away from the city: A hut – She – What was she like? (2) What was she like? She – She was stroking her hair, Her hair was long and black, Her hair plunged over her shoulders, Her locks were braided with bright ribbons, Why? – To keep the stiff […]
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(1) I kissed a mermaid on land, Then – later, In her aquatic paradise, She reciprocates it; (2) I see a mystic sit on a cactus pot and smile, I see locked Mosques and Churches even on Fridays and Sundays – so too are the Temple doors and naamghars, I see a crowd hurl stones […]
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