Poems
Four of my poems are in the latest issue (pdf) of Origami Condom. You’ll have to scroll down quite a bit for the poems. I’m republishing two of them here:
Desire.15.
Intensity had its failings that summer.
We clambered over cartons in the store-room,
stumbled in semi-light. Your fingers played
at ineptitude. I act like I know the impatience
of hands. I wonder if any of my friends
have done this. They attended special
classes for French, stooped
over Le Soleil, repeated verbs in monotone—
naitre, revoir, mourir—maundered later
at the arcade where boys in black leather
leaked cigarette smoke out of their mouths
while mother at the dining table
illustrated latitudes and longitudes
to a recalcitrant son, her voice taut
as sitar strings, her eyes patient as stars.
I pretend interest. I pass food
from plate to mouth. The walls receded
into the shapes of your face. I wait
for the next humid or rain-stopped afternoon
when your fingers will find their way
into the right places.
***
Totem
After his hair fell out in clumps,
it skulked everywhere. On his pillow.
The back of the sofa where he leaned
his head. In the drain.
Coarse black strands like handloom cotton.
He took to rubbing his hand
across the shrubby baldness
like other people smooth beards
or lift moustache edges
with agile, self-conscious fingers.
It was more than acceptance
or coming to terms. It was almost
vanity.
His head:
its brown soft as caramel, faintly wrinkled,
totem that had watched over us for so long,
now bursting like a sack, neat tumors
jostling in there like potatoes,
bulged frailer in the lamplight every day.
***
June 18th, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Congrats on the pub! What a title.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:47 PM
I’ve read # 1 earlier, but can’t recall where. I suppose it’s because I know you a bit that the poems take me to levels 3,4 and 5, but regardless, they’re stellar pieces, Anu. Congratulations on the publication. Absolutely well-deserved.
June 21st, 2009 at 5:38 PM
It’s my first visit to your wonderful blog. Good stuff, keep it up.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Congratulations.
Origami Condom. I like. Wouldn’t be very functional, I guess. Still.
Now, when I have kids…
June 25th, 2009 at 3:39 AM
great poems.
June 26th, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Thank you all.