Submissions by mmsiraj
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
things are not what they seem nor are they otherwise. I really don't know what I mean by that.
Love is a strange thing
Love is a strange thing
lies coiled up like a snake
its fangs to sink
it’s a beast that lies dormant
benign in its demeanor
first blood to draw
for years I have wandered
with just the feel
of its warm breath on my brow
but now I feel the pain
blood coursing down my vein
the quickening of the heart
the rush in the head
I toss and turn on the bed
sleep don’t come
I go stand out in the rain
calling out your name
there is no shame in it
this mantle of years lie
light on my shoulders
I am drawn like a moth
to...
lies coiled up like a snake
its fangs to sink
it’s a beast that lies dormant
benign in its demeanor
first blood to draw
for years I have wandered
with just the feel
of its warm breath on my brow
but now I feel the pain
blood coursing down my vein
the quickening of the heart
the rush in the head
I toss and turn on the bed
sleep don’t come
I go stand out in the rain
calling out your name
there is no shame in it
this mantle of years lie
light on my shoulders
I am drawn like a moth
to...
778 reads
3 Comments
going my way
i grant you i am no easy man to live with
and when i am gone there is sure to be sighs of
relief going around, they would say,
he had his faults but he had a heart of gold
or words to that effect and i would hate the waiting
with the flowers wilting around me
and trussed up like a chicken
and how i would wish i could sit up
and scare the bejesus out of them mourners
wearing black suits and long faces.
they would think a stake through his black heart
ain’t such a bad idea but six feet under
in an iron casket gotta hold him for sure. ...
and when i am gone there is sure to be sighs of
relief going around, they would say,
he had his faults but he had a heart of gold
or words to that effect and i would hate the waiting
with the flowers wilting around me
and trussed up like a chicken
and how i would wish i could sit up
and scare the bejesus out of them mourners
wearing black suits and long faces.
they would think a stake through his black heart
ain’t such a bad idea but six feet under
in an iron casket gotta hold him for sure. ...
729 reads
2 Comments
this or that
when you forsake a bit of foreskin
you become one thing
or the thread across your body
cuts you some slack,
it could be a cross
that could save your soul,
you grow a beard
or shave your head,
you eat meat or you cheat
or you don’t eat any,
you wash your ass
or you wipe it dry,
you do it missionary
or you do the sixty nine,
that’s fine,
you go down on your knees and pray
or you make a song or dance about it,
for all i know,
you are born and you die,
in between, you are this and that,
you have...
you become one thing
or the thread across your body
cuts you some slack,
it could be a cross
that could save your soul,
you grow a beard
or shave your head,
you eat meat or you cheat
or you don’t eat any,
you wash your ass
or you wipe it dry,
you do it missionary
or you do the sixty nine,
that’s fine,
you go down on your knees and pray
or you make a song or dance about it,
for all i know,
you are born and you die,
in between, you are this and that,
you have...
607 reads
0 Comments
don’t talk of love
don’t talk of love,
you don’t have a right to,
not with the things that you do,
you think you fall in love,
think of your lover all day long,
think you are ten feet tall,
no, you don’t think, you feel,
that makes you different,
you occupy a space
where truth cannot intrude,
you fool each other,
whisper sweet nothings
there is a tear in her eye,
a stirring in your heart,
but you have to play your part,
make all the right moves,
hold on to that love
before it goes south,
don’t talk about love,
you...
you don’t have a right to,
not with the things that you do,
you think you fall in love,
think of your lover all day long,
think you are ten feet tall,
no, you don’t think, you feel,
that makes you different,
you occupy a space
where truth cannot intrude,
you fool each other,
whisper sweet nothings
there is a tear in her eye,
a stirring in your heart,
but you have to play your part,
make all the right moves,
hold on to that love
before it goes south,
don’t talk about love,
you...
718 reads
3 Comments
i am not my name
i could have been a number,
identifying my ignominy,
numbers could be sequential,
there is something definite about them,
numbers are impartial, based on reason,
two plus two can never be five,
numbers would keep me in my place,
I can’t jump the gun,
names on the other hand
bring with it the weight of the ages,
the wages of sin,
the collective sins of the fathers,
it’s my cross to bear,
names, not just an identity,
a badge of honor or shame,
a dividing line that sets me apart,
you wear the number of the beast, ...
identifying my ignominy,
numbers could be sequential,
there is something definite about them,
numbers are impartial, based on reason,
two plus two can never be five,
numbers would keep me in my place,
I can’t jump the gun,
names on the other hand
bring with it the weight of the ages,
the wages of sin,
the collective sins of the fathers,
it’s my cross to bear,
names, not just an identity,
a badge of honor or shame,
a dividing line that sets me apart,
you wear the number of the beast, ...
624 reads
0 Comments
Something’s Cooking
She was in the kitchen
on her haunches
the heat was on
I was on a slow burn
she was kneading dough
with cream in her hand
she looked at me sternly
and said, don’t just stand there
go on, beat that meat
on her haunches
the heat was on
I was on a slow burn
she was kneading dough
with cream in her hand
she looked at me sternly
and said, don’t just stand there
go on, beat that meat
933 reads
3 Comments
another beginning
i know nothing .
i am a scholar of vast learning,
i have read all the right books,
i have sat at the feet of learned men of great repute,
i have seen the world,
hobnobbed with the rich and famous,
i can talk for hours on the new physics,
rocket science, philosophy, technology,
history, the death of the novel,
define poetry in precise terms, elaborate on the sutras,
try ask me, there is nothing that is beyond me,
i know nothing,
i know nothing of sitting quietly,
i know not of walking on my own two feet,
i know nothing of...
i am a scholar of vast learning,
i have read all the right books,
i have sat at the feet of learned men of great repute,
i have seen the world,
hobnobbed with the rich and famous,
i can talk for hours on the new physics,
rocket science, philosophy, technology,
history, the death of the novel,
define poetry in precise terms, elaborate on the sutras,
try ask me, there is nothing that is beyond me,
i know nothing,
i know nothing of sitting quietly,
i know not of walking on my own two feet,
i know nothing of...
656 reads
3 Comments
beginning
today, in the morning of my life, i am leaving,
i am leaving the darkness, the emptiness and the waste,
the bitter taste of regret, the games we play,
the lies we tell, the personal hell we create,
the senseless violence, the tears and the rage,
the dark vanities of the mega cities,
i am leaving home, the security of the known and the inured,
the lord knows where i am going,
i know not the road, i know not the destination,
but go i will, burdened by anxiety but strengthened by hope,
beset by temptations but guarded by spiritual powers, ...
i am leaving the darkness, the emptiness and the waste,
the bitter taste of regret, the games we play,
the lies we tell, the personal hell we create,
the senseless violence, the tears and the rage,
the dark vanities of the mega cities,
i am leaving home, the security of the known and the inured,
the lord knows where i am going,
i know not the road, i know not the destination,
but go i will, burdened by anxiety but strengthened by hope,
beset by temptations but guarded by spiritual powers, ...
700 reads
1 Comment
Interiors
if nothing else
i have learned to play
my part to the hilt,
build castles in the air
and flit with ease
from tower to moat.
it is not that i do not think
of shifting sands
and sail boats set adrift,
it is just that i cannot speak.
there is a river that runs
through my heart,
shrouded in mist
where the beaver works
on its winter home
and the salmon
heads for the sea,
around the bend,
in the sedge,
forked tongues flicker
and taste blood,
by the ledge
a barge moored,
loaded...
i have learned to play
my part to the hilt,
build castles in the air
and flit with ease
from tower to moat.
it is not that i do not think
of shifting sands
and sail boats set adrift,
it is just that i cannot speak.
there is a river that runs
through my heart,
shrouded in mist
where the beaver works
on its winter home
and the salmon
heads for the sea,
around the bend,
in the sedge,
forked tongues flicker
and taste blood,
by the ledge
a barge moored,
loaded...
681 reads
1 Comment
hope
it broods no good
this dark wind
that comes in
from the west
as the night falls
hard on my mind.
i am lost
in the longing
with no guiding light
in these harsh times
to lead me home,
but soon the sun
would come up from the east
and sweep away the dark
and wordlessly the birds
would fill the sky
like a thousand poems
come to life.
this dark wind
that comes in
from the west
as the night falls
hard on my mind.
i am lost
in the longing
with no guiding light
in these harsh times
to lead me home,
but soon the sun
would come up from the east
and sweep away the dark
and wordlessly the birds
would fill the sky
like a thousand poems
come to life.
619 reads
1 Comment
people in high places
do take your clothes off
and go stand naked by the mirror.
tell me what you see,
the gut is spilling out,
slabs of corpulent flesh
that will be the death of you,
the flaccid penis
you haven’t seen in a great while,
lost among the outgrowth of stringy,
graying pubic hair,
one, you know what i mean,
always hangs low,
the muscles sag,
the gut is one big bag,
there are ungainly dark patches
under the armpits
and between the legs,
and the itchy wart on your ass
has turned red,
switch off the lights, ...
and go stand naked by the mirror.
tell me what you see,
the gut is spilling out,
slabs of corpulent flesh
that will be the death of you,
the flaccid penis
you haven’t seen in a great while,
lost among the outgrowth of stringy,
graying pubic hair,
one, you know what i mean,
always hangs low,
the muscles sag,
the gut is one big bag,
there are ungainly dark patches
under the armpits
and between the legs,
and the itchy wart on your ass
has turned red,
switch off the lights, ...
685 reads
5 Comments
whiskey and cigarettes
old greybeard, where are you?
i am stuck in mobile
with the memphis blues again,
who the hell are you?.
tom waits and growls,
i howl at the moon,
moon, june and all that shit
i want no part of it
pour me another drink,
i can’t think that’s the saving grace,
brace yourself, it can only get worse,
you play the game,
but everything will remain the same,
you don’t make the rules,
the blues, the blues will bring you down,
don’t tell me, you have no time to think,
you want this, you want that,
you want to see your shrink, ...
i am stuck in mobile
with the memphis blues again,
who the hell are you?.
tom waits and growls,
i howl at the moon,
moon, june and all that shit
i want no part of it
pour me another drink,
i can’t think that’s the saving grace,
brace yourself, it can only get worse,
you play the game,
but everything will remain the same,
you don’t make the rules,
the blues, the blues will bring you down,
don’t tell me, you have no time to think,
you want this, you want that,
you want to see your shrink, ...
693 reads
2 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by mmsiraj