Trial & error

‘Falling in love’, said she poetically,
‘Is nothing but a game of trial and error’.

Of that,
I had no response but one —
What makes it me then,
The trial or the error?
And whether we had love;
Or had we none?

Answer she must, but carefully.
For her answer decides
If she be the tart or the sweetheart.

By Rohit Panikker

Good men, bad men

Good men go to heaven

Bad men go to women

– Found on the streets of Berlin by Sricharan Muralidharan

Hope

I look at her, so young, so innocent
bonded in labor, right here…. living in the present.
Her tired eyes give me a tired smile,
that stretches across miles and miles.

I look at her and I see
all that she could one day be
if only she were guided properly.

Was it her fault she was born this way? I ask myself
when will we ever do something to help?
Will we always choose to ignore reality?
Will that poor girl find a good soul in this vast city?

She looks at me and says something
something that I cannot hear.
I know its something important,
but the words are just not clear.

I choose to ignore her like everyone else does,
but my actions scar my conscience.
I think about her as I board the bus
something is not right, it does not make sense.

I get off at the next stop
and head back to where I had seen her.
But she is gone,
just like that….. In a flash.
 
She hadn’t left alone, of this I was sure
she had left behind her grief; her sadness at being so poor.
I turn back and head homeward,
thinking of her tired eyes and tired smile,
that stretched across miles and miles.

I wonder if I would see her again
I really want to, but I realize that I might not.
And then one day, when I eventually do
she may not be the same person,
but a soul that I would have long forgot.

I head out again the next day, the same road, the same route.
I look around hoping to see her again.
Instead I see, at precisely the same spot,
another face, so young, so innocent,
bonded in labor, right here…. living in the present.
His tired eyes, giving me a tired smile
that stretched across miles and miles.

Looking at him standing there, suddenly
I knew what I needed to do.
I took his dirty hand in mine and walked across
to the shop round the corner.

I asked him what he wanted,
but he was too shy to answer.
I got him a big bar of chocolate,
put it in his hands and asked him
“Is this not what you have always needed?”

He looked at the bar of chocolate in his hands
then he looked up at me.
I met his gaze and for the first time in my life
I saw Hope.
He seemed happy and thankful.
And so was I.

By Nandita Ravi

Desire. Lust. Hatred. Love

Desire in the mind. A craving of sorts.
Like an over powering drug.
That enters your streams and paralyses
The madness. The Hopes.

Lust in my eyes. The urge is killing
Like the magnets on the fridge.
Like the unsatisfied hunger haunting the insides.
It keeps me alive. Connected. One.

Hatred in my veins. Like the fire
The surge of blood running to your head.
Like a wild avalanche. Rolling.
Accumulating. Killing.

Love in my heart. That rains in on every fire.
Is it true. Is it real.
Is there anything such as “actually true”
Is there love. At all?

By Rehna Abdul Kareem

Digital sodappal!

There’s Gmail, Facebook and messaging
In this age of digital socialising
 
Despite living 24 by 7 on the phone
Poor us, we’re still alone
 
Love and friendships have evolved digitally
But do they touch the heart actually?
 
Touch seems to have become a phone thing
And no longer a personal feeling
 
But who cares, we’re busy online
And happily thinking we’re all fine
 
But that we’re fully not, to state the fact
The need of the hour, surely, is some tact
 
So friends, stop pressing the like button
And start pressing the life button
 
By Srinivasa Ramanujam

Greekalinga

Borrow as much as you can
Inflate your books
Hide the truth and
Land everyone in dire straits…
Greece & Ramalinga Raju’s mantra

By Lavantika

Steve Jobs

An icon of the digital world
Sent to the Recycle Bin (Heaven) 
 
By Lavantika

With killer eyes… away she flies

about a girl who has, without mercy, screwed up a guys mind just by looking at him and disappeared somewhere never to be seen again

Like a nail stinging a golden wall.. I call upon the the merciful god..

To raise my will and save my soul… I yell from all corners of the world..

But no matter what I can do, I know I can’t survive..

Til the end of the universe I shall fly.. but there is noone to hear my cry..

I try to be as stubborn as a mule.. but I cannot control nor am I being controlled..

Like a mad mice I walk the earth.. a zombie of love shall I be named..

Roaming the jungles and still no clue.. the mystery to my end is fairly true..

I shall survive the perils of this earth.. from quakes, volcanoes and the demons of wrath..

But I can never find a cure nor find a way… to escape from the pinnacle that i crave..

Her eyes have made me lose my way.. very soon it will pierce my heart all the way.. I wont die nor I will live..

I will eternally be tortured by that dreamy thrill..

She may leave me and let me float.. But her eyes won’t and it will stay below my throat..

It will guide my heart in this city of madness.. and will rejoice me in my moment of sadness..

Wherever she may be I will remember her.. Even though she had made me blind and lifeless forever..

By John R

Bop!

Slap it, shake it, twist it hard

I’m the groovin’ spaced out Bard

Pluck me out of space and time

And I’ll be the rind of lazy lime

 

Hit it, cut it, burn it through

I am King Solomon’s old worn shoe

Scrape me out with a blade of voiceless surd

And I’ll be the itch of Odin’s dirty beard

 

Rock it, roll it, run it out

The vomit-voiced dirt-bag is ever ready to shout

Shove me into the paper shredder by the side

And I’ll be the waxing, waning, warring UV tide

 

Hand it, leg it, move it to the sound

The country tune makes me want to swing-a bound

Put me in the mortuary and freeze me blue

And my tune will serenade the ice, Oh sweet Lulu

 

Loose it, find it, loose it over

The circle of life smells of new-age clover

Show me the cloud of honey-glazed eternity

I sprint away hopity-bopity

 

By Anusha Vincent 

 

The illuminator

I am the firstarter and the illuminator

Nothing can keep us together

 And then we kissed as though nothing could fall

 We all could be poets for just one day

By Tushar Jain