Poem by Jaykumar Buddhdev

art and talents

with twenty and nine candles

here i am burying them

sometimes burning too

both with a practiced quietness

this art not learnt

but ‘tis a taste acquired

and a habit born on

empty dinner tables with

unworn rings - unclaimed lips

beds unshared and peerless nights

now no more them i see

opened or closed eyes

yet flashes of fancy

emerge rise and sink

staying momentarily but

the seeds of this art

sown slow and sudden

at ten and eight

just before adding ‘nother

to the tally of years

this bilious activity grew

gradually ‘twas nurtured

making them gangrenous too

seeming slightly simple to you

maybe ‘tis too

sans dancing and chanting

‘round their remains with

a wooden stake through

for even cold and buried

or burnt and bloody

they became someone new

with these talents

and hands sanguinary

glistening eyes

i am ready

with a cleaver

and such arts

should you begin

to seem enticing too

This poem has been published in the international journal The Criterion (Vol 8, Issue IV)