Ishwar Chandra

Picasso\'s Cubes or The Flux

I wake up in the words I wield,

In the sentences I write,

Halfway up—and down halfway.

 

I see through thoughts

That are not mine.

They are from my predecessors.

 

When I look in the mirror,

It says:

[ERROR: TRUE SELF NOT FOUND]

So I smile and pretend

To not be affected by the mockery

Of my existence.

 

Time stutters—

And my brother butters

Some toast in the kitchen.

He pays for my needs.

And I eat and sleep and write,

And the toast he roasts

Never burns my throat.

 

Somewhere, the God 

Is either laughing or distracted

Or maybe thinking about his feet.

In between,

A spider loots His kingdom

And prays for forgiveness.

I wish I were God—

I\'d be fair.

 

Oftentimes, I\'d find

My dream dress lying

Across my bathroom tile. 

I step over it, and

Later I realise 

I have made a mistake.

But I do not apologize.

 

People ask, \"You are a writer.

You must be reading a lot!

Tell us, what is the purpose of life?\"

I say unto them,

\"To ask what the question means.\"

They nod in awe.

They think it’s wisdom. 

I say it’s not.

It’s just manipulation

With a little bit of charm.

 

I once fell in love

With a girl

Who didn’t believe in doors

But in Picasso\'s cubes.

She walked between walls

And lived in tubes.

Once I asked, \"Fly with me!\"

She said,

\"Boundaries are the only real thing.\"

She was right.

She disappeared after a while.

And never met. 

I stayed behind,

Arguing with the doorknob:

\"Tubes are stretchable.

And sometimes boundaries too.\"

 

The moon doesn\'t care about me.

And I do not care about the moon either.

We both are utterly selfish.

We reflect each other.

We break each other.

 

I write poems that are absurd.

But it\'s real—the pain is real—

The meaninglessness is real—

As real as the breaking of a glass

If it falls on a floor.

As real as the cracks of this earth,

As if desiccated from a century.

As real as my desire

Of having her in my arms.

As real as the sequence

Of my unfulfilled desires. 

 

One day, I will say it all again—

Quite clear and precise—

The day our hearts will be pure,

And our minds simple.