harleen

In our love's embrace
all facets of light: radio waves,
rainbows, lamp posts, dark nights,
cosmic background microwave.

A horse with blinders—
can only see far?

A manja in the courtyard;
I doze with my oiled black hair drying
—the art of sunbathing.

when the leaves fall—
the silhouette peaks

the water
hangs—turn bird
or learn to climb

waxing gibbous moon
swims inside borderless
deep blue—gets caught
in overhead electrical lines

Tread c a r e fully—
Indeed inside the mind
Are pathways that trap
The animal we are

A moon, caught between wires,
falls into a wolf’s web.
The spider escapes up a palm,
undresses into a titmouse and sings.

her and her-boulder

learned to talk

much later—they came to know

of Sisyphus

Headlands of the Pacific,
mouth of the Mississippi,
the arm of Cape Cod,
the heartland.
It can be reduced to parts
but is a #geography of one body.

#vss365 #micropoem #america #united

Rolling into #victory.
#History. The rusty swing now speaks
of an olive moon, an abandoned nest, a frozen
blue hummingbird and at the center
of its web—the spider’s necessary work.

#poem #womensworldcup #cricket #india

Mustard seed in oil
Asafoetida, curry leaf, fenugreek, carom
The #pungent smell of everyday love.

#vss365 #micropoem
#photo #flower #dirt

the gaze that surveys
the desert—does it
hold pity as it waits?
is that patience #malignant?
maybe it does feel
a tinge of ache
for the flesh that must separate?

Keep walking.
Do not look back.
The vulture is hopeful today.

#vss365 #micropoem
#photography #nature

Continuing the ghazal: back home

#scowl, stomp, wail, plead—for those who leave
to spread greenback on bread, never turn—back home.

#art #vss365 #southasianpoetry
#sher #ghazal
#photography #nature #fire

Continuing the ghazal: back home

It was that fish's #mischief that entrapped the bear;
who would have dared such approach, back home?

#vss365 #southasianpoetry
#sher #ghazal
#photography #nature #web

#hum along to my whirring—cut leather, make shoes;
let feet grow in place, walk far, but come back home.

#vss365 #micropoem
#sher #southasianpoetry
#photography #nature
#pigeon

in the dark, these stars
some kind of #happenstance —or
today, I happened to look up

#vss365 #micropoem
#stars #night #camping
#photography

In a muddy pond
rings clear the courage—who else
but—my #lotus mother

#daily #haiku #dailyhaikuprompt
#micropoetry #photography

Images painted with words,
goddesses carved out of people.
I line up again and again
to stream through metaphors—
my definition of #Idolatry.

#vss365 #micropoem
#photography #nature #tree
#dying #ilovetrees

Thakur’s Water ठाकुर का कुआँ by Om Prakash Valmiki

How can a 35-word poem hold the weight of histories—of caste, land, labor, and inheritance?

Read my English translation and discussion of Om Prakash Valmiki's poem ठाकुर का कुआँ

Today I again survived
the #skirmish between myself and I—
this #savant mind strains against the cage;
the body pleads to be fenced in skin.

#vss365 #micropoem
#photography #fence #wheninrome

each strand of my #taffeta kameez
are wings in a worm’s half-dreamt dream

#vss365 #micropoem #silkworm
#photography #sunset #jetty #ocean

Two electric wires framed across the Bluesky. A single crow sits on the top wire.

When the #rook moved
in unison with the board—
a stampede of currents released—
the birds from their posts.

#vss365 #micropoem
#photography #nature #bird #crow

It folds sweet with a
malice of secrets

It follows slithering
on my footfalls

Every time I slip;
it waits, for me to get up

There is a #susurrus
caught in my wake

#vss365 #micropoem
#photography #nature #bones

#Shed this icy skin
of hibernation, sun calls—
return to spring water

#vss365 #dailyhaikuchallenge
#photography #snow #sun #mountains

my face, pinned
with a collection of time travel;
this #scrape is some
kind of gallantry medal

#vss365 #micropoem
#photography #unclear #window

a #small bird
with a big thirst
will turn stones
into heavy
pit_ch_er.

#vss365 #micropoetry
#photography #sculpture
#HeardMuseum

Ah, the meandering
about—to find this jungle's rules;
for my daily #meed!

#haikuchallenge #haiku #haiga
#micropoetry #photography
#jungle #nature #tree

the #speaker of this house
buried his ears in salt

then the people of his house
bought loudspeakers to talk

the trouble began because
the machines worked too well

the amplification garbled
every sound—old and new.

#vss365 #micropoetry
#photography #cali #summer
#dirtroad #yellow

I am #someone else's thought and thinking me is someone else.
In the mirror my reflection, behind the mirror someone else.

Between a strange trust and distrust is life;
I am close to someone but knows me is someone else

~
from the #ghazal by Kauser
#vss365 #bluesky #poetry #translation