Ladder stories

Two ardent players
pitting against each other
Gambling away the fates
with figments of desirous states

This ladder hauls one atop
And another towards gravity
when the former beams with pride
the latter scorns the stingy bite

fervently moving forward
the former hopes to be 'there'
at a distant space full of learnings
loading it with mirthful yearnings

The latter aches to be where the former is
bartering away its initial dreams
for what is out there
but with immense trepidation and care

When the two unite at an unlikely juncture
Latter asks former, "how is it up there?"
"Jittery, and reclusive "
"What about you?" .. asks the former
"inhibited and wretched"

"I wish to break free,
and flirt with the apex of your affairs.."
daringly adds the latter
"I wish to embrace your rootedness
with no fear of further falling"
wistfully mumbles the former.

Both make a compelling case
longing for the known and the unknown
with their only respite being the reciprocal uncertainty
of the happenings henceforth
Juggling to sustain the essence of a 'here' or a 'there'...



PC: -  https://www.123rf.com/photo_56918100_stock-vector-snakes-and-ladders-board-game-cartoon-illustration.html

Diwali Haikus :)

                                                                                              - Hanoi'19

#1

The happy lanterns
Dangling atop every window
Weighing up human dreams
In the darkness of present reality...


#2

Colorfully crafted sweets
That tingle sudden urges
Causing reckless indulgence
from childlike guilelessness

#3

Dusty Diwali cleaning
a chance for newer beginnings
collapse of tangled webbed dynasties
untangling deep buried memories...

#4

The ritual of Rangoli
adorned with asorted shades
and hours of happy bantering
of women and their desires...

#5

Much ado about lights
and illumination
Another attempt to brighten the outside
Or faintly coping with blazing lights of thy within?

Of Avoidance and Comfort

                                             Photo credits: Most talented - Vandu 🎔🎔🎔
                                       
 

I read these staggering stories
with excerpts chained in order
of life and death
horror and peace
wins and losses
and many mournful deceits

I wonder how we tread that passage everyday
loaded with shame and courage
grief and acceptance
hope and despair
all at once?

We merely glance through them
carefully avoiding the deeper dive
of both pain and joy
because 'surplus can kill..'

I wonder how our bodies juggle
between breathing in the resentment
and out the awe & glory
dancing on this auto-rhythm...

Is switching in-between these states easier
than containing with a hazy sense of self?
How skillfully we conceal from our fragmented being
by swinging through these staggered pieces...

As long as

                                              -Hospital Cave,  Cat-ba Island

As long as you look the way I see you…

I trust you.

As long as you see the way I see things…

I trust you.

As long as you detest because it hurt me…

I trust you.

As long as you smile because I think it’s true…

I trust you.

As long as you fail because I think you deserve it…

I trust you.

As long as you lament because I think I do not deserve it…

I trust you.

Thus, I trust you as long as,

Your perceptions

Your complexes

Is all an extension of myself… 

But

When you disrupt my trust,

I am coerced to confront

The self- broken and demeaned,

From which I gleefully escape,

When I try to see you like me

Broken and demeaned.                                                   

Unearthing

                                                   Most Beloved Keikosan's Home Garden


A fountain of rage
waging from the streets
of humans sharing their stories
releasing chronic angst

Perhaps it is more that spills along
less succinct, hidden drops
mortified of their own presence
yet breathing an uncanny glint

Bemused of this layered presence
Of something that anger is shielding
under its mighty guise
trampling in unison with its mates

To rest the rising perplexity
finally spurts a fellow human
'those were the tears of pursuit
cloaking themselves under fits of fury'

but then how far should hope persist
with unceasing relentless actions?
or it is alright to seek respite
to let the nature spin its wisdom?

Will it ensue if I re-posit?
Asks the impatient fellow human..

Everywhere and Nowhere

                                                               Arashiyama, Kyoto



I hear this sound of desire to grow
tingling from the rustle of a leaf
jostled by the wind
hoping to swoop to an alien shed ...
I hear this sound of desire to grow
with the butterfly flapping ceaselessly
from one bloom to another
cherishing beauty without patience ...
I hear this sound of desire to grow
with airplanes skating in the sky
bearing humans with hopes
and dreams of a distant land ...
What is this symbolic growth that we chase
under the guise of change and motion
which emanates from without us?
Or do we elude the sameness of being
in order to evade the agonizing stillness
which emanates from within us?

The View from Within

                                                                 Sapa '2019



Is it the stillness of the place
or the sobriety of the mind?
I ask myself...
With every breath drawn closer
each thought feels distant
This strange vanity of the wind
Slurping away lonely ideas
And stringing them together
into songs about freedom...
Far away in another village
Another dreamer recoups the lyrics
Pulling only those strings
That sooth her glorious chaos...
This frolicking of the breeze
Inspires many tales of liberation
Whisking away its secrets
But where is the song coming from
Is it the stillness of the place
or the sobriety of the mind?
I ask myself...