Tuesday 24 March 2009

out of step *

being here
disconcerts.

here I am--
an unreal entity in an unreal city.

sometimes i am as eloquent
as a tomb in a merry park.
revellers fall silent in my presence.
and when they walk away,
their footsteps on the gravel path,
dumb with forebodings.

at other times i am a wild lily
that had escaped the gardener’s notice;
and i waltz with the roses and dahlias
to the pitch and fall of the breeze.

it disconcerts...
to be thus
conspicuous.

***

8 comments:

Balachandran V said...

Terrific!
The feeling of conspicuousness has its origin in self-consciousness. When self-consciousness falls off, one can be conspicuous without feeling disconcerted. But then, somewhere in our minds, we want to be conspicuous in our on ways, don't we?
One can sit back and muse on your lines...

Anonymous said...

It connects real easy. Subtleness is everywhere in your lines. Nice imagery too!! :-)

P. Venugopal said...

Thanks, Bal, 'I'm' (whoever you are). This is my predicament nowadays. I know the path, I think, but it is a struggle to get there. One scares away nice people with philosophic discussions. So the least said, the best.

anonymousmuse said...

After all baffling n electrifying, nice to see that
poetry has nestled down on you.
Wonderful imagery!
Good.

P. Venugopal said...

Thanks Vijay. You are right. I am beginning to understand the idiom. But it is like drawing water from a well dug in a very dry terrain. It is empty after each bucket. You never know whether there will be another tomorrow. I have learned to treat each bucket the last and that is freedom. Total freedom.

Anonymous said...

Brevity is hard, when you have so much to say!

I liked your drawing water from a well dug in a very dry terrain metaphor.

P. Venugopal said...

i too find it a good metaphor. sometimes we surprise ourselves, don't we?

Sumi Mathai said...

subtle beauty,is dat hw we call it ?