Mosquitoes

The incessant buzzing pounds my temples
cutting my head into violent shapes
with a child’s heartless scissors

Summer’s oppression in the diminishing noon
beckons Darkness like a simpering mistress

Darkness in its wake drags in horrors

little misshapen heads with drooling grins
ghostly silences lone whistles
an icy finger and coagulating blood

and mosquitoes.
Frenetic urgency in buzzing pincers
and piercing wings

Lewd egg eyes stare blackly
like black on blackboard
The creature alights on my hot skin

And sting.

The needle point pain surprises me
With its sheer impertinence.
Drunk like a fool, M sits, blissful, delirious, numb

Dumb.

With one swat and squelch,
I feel much better.

Wind

My paper
Flutters, whitely
Holding on
To grim earth
Swift
Lifting clear
Rolls upwards slantly

Stuck in a soggy branch
Lightly shivers, sagging

Then quick burst of wind
Up it flies gaily
And away with my body
My paper

India Poems No 1

Travelling in a crowded bus

We almost miss it you know
The bus arrives in a huff and leaves in a puff
Storming in, slowing down, barely stopping
You have to hop to it and amble up
Nimbly, even if you’re ninety five

You’re lucky if you get a window seat
But any seat will do
Just cover your nose
Sweaty bodies have sweaty armpits
That rise like an inner sanctum over your face
Blessing you in whiffs of stale despair

But we usually go standing
Palms slipping on greasy rails
Bums swaying over potholes and speed bumps
Lechers rubbing themselves on us
Unsuspecting schoolgirls, honourable matrons
Even crummy old fishwives
Lechers are usually undiscriminating diplomats
They tell you politely to take an auto
If you have a problem with their rubbing

You are extremely lucky if you get to
The steps in time to get off the bus at your stop
It’s like swimming against the current in
A wild choppy sea in the middle of winter
With grinning sharks jostling by
And with no clothes on

And it’s no small achievement to get off
The bus and land on your feet without stumbling once
You might wish you’d taken an auto
But wait till I tell you what that’d be like.