Death by a train
-------------------
The kiss of a speeding train
Mother earth's embrace
Crescendo of clackety clackety
Then opaque darkness .


The Sun and the Moon
-------------------------------

The sky was a loft
Where children played
An old hag's broom pushed it up
The children now the sun and the moon .


The butterfly
-------------------
Stinging, stinking caterpillar
Ate beauty-holes in our cheekoo leaves
And disappeared into
The rainbow outside our compound.

The Eagle
--------------

Elf-like the she-eagle's call
Fanned out like
Gulmohur's flames
Towards the silver-lined sky-dome.

The plane that did not take off
--------------------------------

The grounded plane
With injured wing
Staved our take-off to heaven
By not flying.



Man and dog
----------------

Dog's leash tied to walker
Dog and man walk
Who is walking whom .



The old man
---------------

A string cot under a mango tree
A marigold-surrounded thatched hut
Announce his stubborn earthly presence .



The tribal woman
---------------------

Ebony-backed tribal woman burns her mouth
With lighted cigar inside ,flickering
Like a firefly trapped in a rock crevice.



Girls
-----

Girls threw stones in charcoal-drawn squares
Their pigtails wavered , ding-dong,
As they jumped over the squares ,one-legged.


The watchman in Hong Kong
-------------------------

An ancient watchman watches a skyscraper
One-third of his age
The third in his watchman?s career.

The station master's colours
----------------------------

At ten the Madras express chugs in
Not stopping but a possibility
If the station master thought red ,not green .



A shadow man
--------------


The winter fire swelled
Pushing shadow man to wall
Thence to the mango tree.


The bench in the park
----------------------


Sunlight sieved by the pipal tree
Played on the spread-out newspaper
And the trouser legs.



Bush
------


The brown parched land
Ran to Sahyadri mountains
Starting from a lonely shrub.



The backyard visitor
--------------------

Six a.m. the bulbul arrived
Our backyard worms forgot
It was his breakfast time.






A view from the rooftop
-----------------------


The traffic centipede
Stops briefly at zebra?s feet
And crawls on.



My own little moon
--------------------


In my childhood my moon
Hid behind a coconut tree
A skyscraper in America now hides it .


A plastic bag
--------------

A highwayside shrub
Blooms a coloured plastic bag
Puffed up by passing wind .




The empty park bench
--------------------

He is not seen on the bench these days
A cigarette stub
Continues to announce him.



Mr. Sparrow
------------

Mr. Sparrow drove away
His rival from the mirror
Only to find him back again.
.



Waves in the Gateway of India
-------------------------------

Beating waves
Fail to kiss
Dangling child feet.