POEM: Five Poems by Sanjeev Sethi

Heaven

We let no flügelhorn animate the atmosphere.
Our presence drew the stelliferous to a party
of two. In the reign of rhythms, we repeatedly
heard our song; meaningful to us but mute to
the others. That is how strains are or should be.

In discotheques, glutei jive, but the beat simmers
with a few. Remember, when scoring impressively,
the class teacher applauded? Wasn't it symphonic?
Would it be foolhardy to visualize human activities
permitting us to savor the nectar of music with God?

Riprap

While the victors are in a celebratory mode,
a hush-hush augments unsettled concerns.
At a fitting moment, these will squeal
and singe. By then, the progenitors of
the pogrom will be cadavers.
History will color us with the paint of pain.

Those on the outskirts of the experience
may mess with the marginalized.
It is a fallout of polarization.
It mushrooms othering. I carry no statistics.
Poems don't require the drape of legalese;
mine is a prayer to unclutter processes.

Feature

You share your sagas
blind in the belief
they are mine, too.
You forget, or maybe
it's alien to you,
that the universe
offers us disparate platters.

It introduces me to a
redoubtable reality.
Those with a putative
stain of poverty
hold pockets
full of treats
another may never taste.

The Karmic Footnote

Age is an emissary. It infantilizes us: That
is the test. You are not granted what you
aren't going to be tried for. In this edition,
if there is no grandmother, take it as a trial
you have bested in earlier outings.

If you have been weaned on woes, that is
the examination. If it is an unpeopled ride,
see it as the proving ground. The metrics
of faith are without warranties. If it sits
with you, it is for you.

Lockstep

There were no fingerprints on the skates of early mobility.
One couldn't establish the origin of the naysaying energy.
It was as though the cosmic nursed me with its galactoid
aliments.

Godsend isn't for every gateway. Often, we wear the cloak
of casualness, oblivious of the ache we inflict without intent
or iniquity. I wish an exalted draft could spell out the calculus
of Karma.

Sanjeev Sethi has authored eight poetry collections. His poems have been published in over thirty-five countries and appear in more than 500 journals and anthologies. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by the Hedgehog Poetry Press. Sethi is among the top 10 finalists for the 2021 Erbacce Prize. He is the recipient of the 2022 Ethos Literary Award. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the National Defence Academy, Pune. He was conferred the 2023 Setu Award for poetic excellence. He lives in Mumbai, India. 

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