Prathibha Nandakumar

If you are searching for that poem written especially for you
you have to remember that writing poems

is like drinking coffee
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Commissioned to write a book on traditional cooking
Returning home very late one night I stop at the bakers to
Pick up a loaf of bread. The familiar octogenarian
struggling with the shutter halts, gets in again to
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Why is it that a yes
is a simple yes
and a no is a life time of
self denial, doubt, regret
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Marriage is more lonely than solitude
- Adrienne Rich
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Ah! To leap from a cliff
into an abyss,
marking the graduation from
discipline to a Nagual of knowledge,
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I offer you this space to build,

or destroy, demolish, demark,
deconstruct, demystify, design, designate
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-1-
How long can the hide and seek go on?
The net is cast everyday and soon
you will be `it'.
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Showing the telegram helped to get a seat in the over crowded train.
Pushing the old gate with one leg and walking in was so
very like old times. But there was a fire in front of the door
One of the death rituals. Eyes stared.
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is that we love ourselves
more than we love charles
so we want him to come tell us
how bad we are
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Gas cooker mixer grinder toaster grater heater peeler washer
The housewife is the main consumer
Today’s show windows are tomorrow’s must have kitchens
Cleaned rice dhal all packed powdered boiled baked dried
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When I was grouping for new poem
for the poetry festival,
poems danced all over the house:
in nooks and corners, in bed,
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I have died a million deaths
in the last ten minutes
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I was born with several diseases
And thought that was the normal way

I played the flute with lips
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Burnt seasoning, calling bell, son screaming for towel
from bathroom, TV competing with him, neighbour wants
something urgent, its an emergency,
laundrywalah wants to settle the account right away,
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The three inverted triangles of the Yoni chakra
cuts across the four moving upwards
fourteen lotus petals spread around and
nothing goes out of symmetry or color
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He is the animal trainer
makes even the fiercest of fierce animals
crawl, jump, stand on hind legs
just by the crack of his whip.
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Slumping on the chair she said
calling out to Vincent for a cigarette
knew I could catch you here.
Lighting her Vincent said
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Always holding on to mother's pallu
someone at the school had said
that the scare crow would come home
to take me away if I was not smart.
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It was a table for two.
Two beer mugs were filled to the brim
Who called the third cheer?
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And they award you for deconstruction!

Design thearies desert you to tackle
the slopping roof realities without a column support of
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