Yogi Akhilesh
writes poems
with the
black smoke stinking of burning human flesh
on the bank
of the holy Ganga
in Manikarnika Ghat
in Varanasi.
Ants and
worms compete
to eat Yogi
Akhilesh’s poems.
They chew the
letters and the punctuation marks.
The exclamation
marks disappear first.
Dead ashes float
on holy Ganga.
Sins dissolve
into the holy waters.
Shanti
mantras rumble and roll into the river’s ripples.
Abandoned
gaumatas wander in
and masticate what remains of
Yogi Akhilesh’s
poems.
Yogi Akhilesh
is a holy seer.
He has no
eyes.
His vision is
clear.
His poems are
tangy.
One day the Ganga will carry them too,
Without punctuation marks.
Distorted words.
PS. This blog is participating in
The Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa2021
campaign.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteI confess myself a little uncertain what you say here - Yogi Adityanath reference or Akhilesh Yadav reference? I think the latter may have penned some shlokas... but I think is not a holy man? YAM xx
Neither Adityanath nor Akhilesh is my man, but a fictitious yogi whose words of wisdom go undigested and are ultimately distorted.
DeleteEveryone writes poetry nowadays. I keep wondering whether I should continue or quit.
ReplyDelete-Sonia
I hope my venture into the poetic arena is not the cause of your frustration 😅
DeleteIsn't more the merrier Sonia 😃
DeleteHaha. Not at all sir. The reference is to your muse.
DeleteDeepika I fear large crowds.
DeleteHe has no eyes his vision is clear... Wonderful poem. Loved the metaphors
ReplyDeleteDeepika
Thank you, Deepika. I hesitated to put this up in the blog knowing it's hard to understand. Too metaphorical.
DeleteThat's what makes this poem special. Its open to so many interpretation. I think each one will read it according to their perceptions of many philosophies in life. I loved it
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon this piece by chance but I loved it. I loved the perspective, especially the usage of Pire and what happens henceforth as a metaphor. Hardly anyone touches such subjects. Continue with the good work sirji 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
ReplyDeleteThank you, Manas. That surely is an encouraging comment. My poetry tends to be bizarre. Luckily, poetry comes to me rarely.
DeleteWhat a wonderful poem
ReplyDelete🙏🙏
DeleteEvery time , you read it, it comes up with a new meaning . Nice. I am not an English litrature person but whatever little knowledge of the language I have gained by reading Physics or chemistry, I liked it...
ReplyDeleteAnts and worms compete
to eat Yogi Akhilesh’s poems.
They chew the letters and the punctuation marks.
The exclamation marks disappear first.
Thank you, Neerja.
Deletei like the words, he has no eyes, his vision is clear. I believe that some of us have no vision because we tend to see too much with our eyes.
ReplyDeleteGanga will carry you without punctuation marks - This line hit hard. Good to read poem in the metamorphic manner and you said a lot in few words. I think you should pen more poems for making your point as poetry has its own charm to deliver the underlying message.
ReplyDeletePoetry rises in me only rarely. Glad you liked this.
DeleteI am not a poetry person but I enjoy reading good ones. This is a good poem and although it took me some time to understand it, I enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete