When there is no tomorrow

So the prompt was to have a tagline as the title of the poem. I chose the FedEx tagline; I think the poem itself sounds a bit like Rudyard Kipling's If. What do you think? When there is no tomorrow When there is no tomorrow and when yesterday does not push itself like an envelope …

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What if?

Noticed a lot of the poems - some of  mine too - I read these days has activist tones. This goes out to several poets, myself included. I wonder how poetry would thrive if the spikes of suffering, of sadness had been flattened out. How many would write about the magic in an orange moon as it …

No room here

The ghost that twists in the basement is a remnant of me. My fears have fed him over the years, giving shape to his collar bone adding flesh to his thighs. Every road that I have yearned to take and refused to venture on has given fodder to this ghost. A few years ago, I …

Growing older

When I can’t comprehend the reasons you give for slashing our skins, dividing it into squares and allocating each piece to a pigeonhole, the artist here, the funnyman there, the sportsman here, away from the box housing the intellectual, we are told, “you can’t be all that you want to be.” It sounds like a …

Dear motorist

Dear motorist who drove past me, almost scraping my skin. Do you see the road as a plain sheet devoid of traffic? Does a cyclist seem to you a dot you can shrink further into nothing? Do you think you cause no damage when you force me off the road or drown me with your …

The purpose of goodness

You must be good, say your prayers daily, ensure your bowl leaks just enough to nourish those in need, follow the tenets, and brand them into your skin, ensure the beads keep moving through your fingers. If you do this, an appetizing afterlife awaits. Saint Peter will usher you in through the gate of Paradise …

The man who shrank the earth

Prompt: Write from the point of view of a person who changed the course of history. You might know me and my friend Larry. If you don't, you can just google, haha. Who knew a research project would take us this far? We connect bits of information scattered over the earth, Melt it in one …

How to be an internet intellectual

First, Embrace an ism. Any ism. Nationalism. Feminism. Atheism. Fundamentalism. Communism. Okay that last one's almost dead. All the more likely you will stand out. Stick to this ism like it’s an extension of your skin, like you would not exist had this newly discovered creed of yours hadn’t existed. Second, Voice your opinion. On …

School

Grades earned over years Of battling books and exams, Friendships cemented. NaPoWriMo 2017, Poem 17

Dirty

How many things can you call dirty? Is dirty the quivering of bodies when they make love without the consent of the hundreds whose homes are as warm as a bucket of ice cubes? Is dirty the act of seeking love on your own terms? Is dirty the act of avoiding a four-legged prison with …