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

           

Unsilenced

Shivers ran down my strained spine,
sweat and dew tried to cool,

the unsettled magma in my blood-shot eyes, 

muscled veins, charged for combat.  

I froze a million lawful questions

and eyed them fallen targets -

five in all, in flesh and blood.

one alive, slumped in front.

My skilled blows hard enough

knocked out the rest,

the final target rose in alarm.

(A forest ranger, loaded and ready,

I was armed and forewarned.)  

What an apology for a man! I spat.  

He’d tested me too far.

after bloody hours of making and breaking

weren’t they tired of it all?

I lowered my gun, I took my stance

Watched him do his final death dance.

‘Repent!’ I said, ‘but go to hell,

for her irreparable loss.’

But when my stubborn trigger,

taut with potential,

exploded his filthy head,

the deafening shrieks of a hundred victims,

had a group of white doves, unsilenced.

The laws of nature and humankind,

had come to my defense

I shrugged that wayward stain with pride

off my untainted metal badge.

To that one mute dove,

I gave my hand

and pulled her to her feet.

Without a word spoken,

With no questions asked,

I prayed to those ghostly voices

and bent to stroke, the lass's head

and apologized 
for them fallen men. 

The Translator

He sourced his ideas


from a kutchi artist,


borrowed his metaphors,


picked the best of his designs.


He eliminated the inscrutable.


He chose eclectic fabrics,


to sew deeper metaphors,


to suit his contemporary audiences.


In a façade of patchwork,


he marked his new meaning.


Raw silk for subtle emphasis,


mirrors reflecting the original.


To accentuate his own perspectives,


he made new patterns, stitches,


synchronous paraphrases.


He etched his initials,


and published it,


rightfully copyrighted!




Rajashree Anand

Precis

Published in Muse India: Issue 36 Mar - Apr 2011

The adorned kanjeevaram mannequin,

is ready to be calculated.

Additions and subtractions

of her assets are made,

in close quarters and fractions.

Wrinkled faces nod in agreement.

As detailed negotiations ensue,

future corollaries are predicted

and axioms seal the bond.
There’s no looking back.

It’s all about give and take! 

When evident inequalities are justified in vain,

the kohl baffled eyes blink.

The match is made. 

Sodden paths will now crossover,

linearities will be entwined.
Forever.  

Shes answered, adjudged.

But, speak! veiled show-piece.

Rajashree Anand

When Life Beckons

Published in Muse India: Issue 36 Mar - Apr 2011

I soar like an albatross,

eastward ; where vacant archipelagos 

and inflated magma chambers,

spew fecundity with confidence. 

 

I gravitate to forgotten heritage sites,

And discover forsaken villages.

I expedite to catch the sunset view,

of man-made and natural wonders.

 

I dive into depths of severe oceans,

For hidden mysteries to uncover, 

Breathless: I shiver, to feel my carnal predators 

in thrilling close encounters.

 

I test vertical limits of physical tolerance,

And free-fall with peregrine precision,

I trick gravity and launch my chute

Before raging adrenaline gives in.

 

In search of my inner oblivion

I migrate to scour new terrains.

I canvass untreaded, forlorn paths

only to feel, share and experience.   

 

As I backpack on aimless traveller trails

discovering and unlearning fiction,

I spurn fear and embolden the mind, 

to continue on the next exciting mission.

 

 

A Matter of Fact!

Published in Muse India: Issue 36 Mar - Apr 2011

One seeks to discover meaning,

in twice-removed subtleties of life,  

through a skilful mining of morphed metaphors,

while decoding the quaint and rife.  

Sceptics argue in eloquent prose

or justify emboldened strategies,

vague belief becomes an approved truth

and we nod in hidden anomalies.

‘The universally acknowledged truth’:

was Austen’s reflection on Victorian mind,

the mighty scabs on the fairer sex,

were to empower womankind.

But Freuds ruthless theories,

caved in on Feminist afterthought

and Ptolemy’s skewed notion of the universe

changed man’s own focal plot.

In this human quest to seek clarity

How far can we trust any source?

Its but natural to find subjectivity and doubt

weaved in an answer’s arduous course.

Rajashree Anand

His Muse

Strained by frustrating forgetfulness

he shakes his ink pen & wants to write.

He waits for his muse to appear,

but nowhere is he in sight.

Without his fugitive sprite

no words can be lucid or clear,

so he curses his pen :“I said write!”

to budge his stubborn reflexes.

Has insomnia got him too?

Why does he nowadays abscond?

He blinks at his ancient fingers,

and sighs at his fading bond.

But there in his memory far & beyond

that slighting elf slithers,

he dances with that hideous blonde

in Hitchcock’s bemusing clues! 


Rajashree Anand


(An old man / poet wants to write a poem. But, his inspiration/idea/muse leaves him and he finally finds it.)
Rhyme scheme : ABCB BCBA.... 

Listless Hope and Deep Anguish

Published in Muse India: Issue 36 Mar - Apr 2011
Listless Hope and Deep Anguish

“Now, what will be, will be”, he mutters

with married arrogance and divorced trust.

Tears in dry, shocked eyes stare back in muted silence,

feeling evermore trapped. 

Each utterance snubs her restless wish,

listless hope and deep anguish

Teary trembles in tired eyes, trudge

to seek candour and speak forth her edgy heart

her over-cried lips whisper to the honeyed moonlight,

“Oh, luxurious veiled dullness!”, she cries.  

Each tear outlines her untold wish,

listless hope and deep anguish

She’d  heeded his tailored facades and approaches

lurid ideas and prejudiced bigotry, but-

how far could she rein her verbose horses?

But seek a studied breach,

Speak forth a testimony of unseen regret,

in dying an emotional death since their union.

Each decision thus bespoke her forlorn wish,

listless hope and deep anguish

With strong opinion in relevant logic,

That night she spoke of their discordant inevitability

and foretold troubles of their marital tomorrow

in unaltered hindsight.

Each word dictated her resolute wish,

listless hope and deep anguish.

Rajashree Anand

Guru of Penance

Published in Muse India: Issue 36 Mar - Apr 2011


Two-folded limbs utter karmic chants
guilty outstretched palms to heaven
tremble weak in unanswered devotion.
Ringed ear and finger pale in weakening light
as his entrance test approaches - the grey
overcast concoction- that ruthlessly precipitates.


Minutes to an hour, an inbound path
of restless reconstruction begins.
In mortal flesh, he dreams his forgiven image -
an acid-rain-drenched, mould-rotten
penitent meditator. Like a boulder of rock
immortalised - an embalmed yogi.


Alas! An ant bites.
He shivers, shakes his disturbance away
in good riddance to elusive worldliness.
The sting purifies, conviction flows
through his unclouded veins, grit overcomes guilt;
the dawning realisation heals.


Stallion-limbed emperor to demonic warlord
his bloody swords shrieked,
innocent blood froze in cold-blooded conquests.
but now, he meditates in profound knowledge;
grey clouds and mind give way to unveil,
a sky bespeckled with cosmic stardust.


The teary-eyed, one-legged guru of penance,
folds his palms at his temple ,
chants in obeisance and gratitude.
Unflushed of his sins, but aware.
Lucid and purified knows
that he is forgiven and blessed!