Sons of Zeus

(Published By : Online Magazine - Writers Asylum )

Like epitomes of paradoxes,
the Big Brother to the ‘other’,
dictates and usurps
the universal truth:
the last minute Mr Benefactor
of Swiss accounts. The nuke,
that controls in the name of peace -
making, keeping or breaking?
Apollonian ego and democratic dogmas

following convoluted cults as rights
of expression, defiance or idiosyncrasy.

Or that ‘significant’ other that learns

yearns, emulates and succumbs.
Like dung beetles, menacing bugs -
‘mysteriously meticulous’,
laying spawns as pawns for a stable future
tediously following the laws of survival:
development, fluidity or corruptive liquidity?

Like parallel electric lines

at calculated distance apart
are Apollo and Dionysus.
Dichotomous. Incongruous.
They can and will never unite.
The natural father can only watch over. Clueless.
 

 

Rajashree Anand

           

The Giant Chopsticks

The cauldron seers underneath
the melting pot f

uses, fuels appetites.
The culinary Malay twins are born,
sprucing their sodden sky.
Massive and everlasting they stand:
piercing bluntly into sticky rice-clouds
They are chopsticks, not spoons!

For the 'Sons of the Land'
who bask in its boisterous segments
as artfully aligned to their heavens,
they fuel modest pride.
They quench imported palettes
with cultural condiments.

They stand:
a symbol of nationalism
subtly borrowed?
they are chopsticks after all, not spoons!
Chopsticks. Chinese. Borrowed.

Nasi Lemak

It is unity.
A sensual outburst;
fuming essences out of rain-forests,
harvesting in hungry plates,
engulfing courses drowned in taste.
Scrunched to be crunched
in knotted pandan potlis
flavourfully divine,
seams revolving in variations
blend one, with the one-eyed ova moon –
the wild aromatic nasi
paled hot by saucy spices,
evidences of the sea at its periphery.
Ikans swimming into a spoonful
the wandering remnant, burnt
with hot sambal
hardly cooled by sliced cucumber.
and yet the tongue salivates for more.
This bungkused kaleidoscope,
has pagi brunches transformed
into visions of a fulfilling malam.
Saving any remaining appetite,
for a peaceful retirement in a cozy office chair.


Rajashree Anand

Notes:
'pandan' - a palm-like, aromatic leaf used in Malay cuisine
'nasi' - rice
'ikan' - fish
'sambal' - a hot sauce made by crushing red chillies; served with rice
'bungkus' - packed for take-away
'pagi' - morning
'malam' - night