Buying a ruler

I needed a ruler

And went to the shop to get one

But the rulers were all straight

And I wanted to draw

A curving line 

.

Now, why are they so?

Oh! They go by the rule

That is why.

So then

If you can’t get a ruler

That will help you

To draw a bent line

Or a curved one

Then what can you do?

You will have to draw it,

He said,

And that is why I draw.

(And I very well know

That there are rulers

That will bend a law or two.)

TO THE RIGHT WINGER(With a translation into Malayalam by the author)

Oh, oh! the right wing chap-
What can you do for him?
Give him a left wing
So that he can fly.

Oh,oh! the left wing chap-
What can you do for him?
Give him a right wing
So that he can fly.

 ഒരു വലതുപക്ഷക്കാരന്

ഓഹോ ഈ വലതുപക്ഷക്കാരന്
അയാള്ക്കുവേണ്ടി നമുക്കെന്തു ചെയ്യാനാവും?
അയാള്ക്കൊരിടത് ചിറകു നല്കാം
ആയാളും പറന്നു കളിക്കട്ടെ!

ഓഹോ ഈ ഇടതു പക്ഷക്കാരന്
അയാള്ക്ക് നാമെന്തു നല്കും?
ഒരു വലതു പക്ഷം(ചിറകു) തന്നെയായ്ക്കോട്ടെ
ആയാളും പറന്നു നടക്കുവാന്
അല്ലാതെന്താ?

THE YOUNG NIGHT

You know

The night is young

And there was

More poetry in the darkness

Than there ever was

In the light.

In the darkness

The unseen was ever so close

The many voices that travels through the trees

Whispering in the ear.

The sun was no more a ceiling

With which vision was bound

And the galaxies had opened up

And become perceivable.

The appropriateness

Of devices of foreshortening

Or perspective no more mattered

Because the knot of the tie

Had already been loosened

And fun and frolicking

Was underway.

VERTIGO

Was with my friend

Who had a vertigo

Having climbed the mountain

Along the slope

And suddenly finding himself

At the edge of a culvert.

I told him indigo and the blues

Were true colours

And that he had to carry

A spirit level

Or plumb bob and line

So that he doesn’t fall.

Height is a tough thing to overcome

Unless you have a girlfriend

Who will come with you

On the cliffs.

(That is ‘on the rocks’

Made explicit for you!)

I was about to write a letter to a friend

But couldn’t find the pen

Then I found the spring

And there was no water in it.

(If spring comes

Can the ball pen be far behind.)

THE WORD

This is the word

As it had been spelt out

Repeated

And confirmed

And was blocked

By a block in the memory lane

A noun

That I would have liked

To have called out

From the roof top

The name that had gone missing

When no one knew

That something was amiss.

I would have loved

To roll it on my tongue

To spit it out

As a pithy something

That was not there,

A memory,  maybe.

But I too was missing

For long

For myself,  and for others.

Maybe, someday perhaps

Things could become more even

So that those lost

Could all be found

And a walk down the lane

Could have filled you

With smiles.