I did not understand fire, Until I saw desire in her eyes. Nor did I know the smell of ashes, Until I was tucked in the urn. Between the desire and the ashes, A country self-immolated in hatred. Its men drunk plenty on...
This knowledge, That I may never see Beyond this wide-open front That I see when I close my eyes Maybe this is how the end arrives Calming me, telling me Not to ask any more questions Will I hold my resolve When this...
“Here, take these glasses,” said she, When I said I can’t see the Totality. Still seeing only darkness, I mumbled to myself, “Why I still can’t see it, even with these?” I turned...
With flooded eyes, you look at her face, You hear her calling you, You straighten your focus, Already bone taut, Already seeing only her, Hearing only her, No, no, you don’t want anyone else, Anything else, just...
What country! Eyes seeking the weak, Found the blind. Searching for sounds of grace, I heard the bellow of the bully. Lying eyes everywhere Drunk on God that is not even god. Here I am again, Homeless, rootless. Not my...
4 hrs 45 mins of various Babul Mora versions, compiled over time as a Spotify playlist. I am quite sure I am missing some. Nevertheless, be thankful this poem and these artists who render it exist. Featured image: Mirza...
You look up from your work computer and close your eyes, willing the worlds away to flood your head. You wish you were in her world right this minute, helping with her groceries, run errands, come back home and wash...
Lazy spring afternoons, like today Sun, busy packing for a full on summer, Shows up with loads of longing for her. Keeping me quiet, pining for her crazy. While she, a million miles away, Coiled up, quiet, her love, her...
Six months ago, I went to a country. A state of mind was its terrain, Wonder, resolve and flow were its waters. Far, far away from your jagged edges, I paddled in those white waters, Growing worlds and lives in my path...
I know this much. I am heading for ashes. Knowing this, Having known this for quite some time, I float above forms, And above objects with names. Now and then My eyes are caught, In her diamond looks, By her...
Went to bed last night, head heavy. Fighting off the day’s images, Of faces that wouldn’t smile, Of those that smiled excessively. Thinking to myself, “They all think I want something, why do they...
Your indifference, like this year, will roll into the next. Defiant, Saying we were never together. Hmm. True. Your forearms, bare, Your palms, damp, your eyes, alarmed or upset or sometimes both. What about them? Now I...
Other women, possessing key value pairs, With dictionaries of obsolescence as resumes. She, she isn’t thinking about you She’s got her Tesla, her twins, and her career future to worry about. She, she already...
In last night’s phone call Our moods, hers and mine, were Like these dark trees Standing up to the blazing sun. Reassuring ourselves that No matter how it burns, scalds and rankles us It is the sun that sets in...
I think someone is dead No, no, not the daily dead and dying But someone who is close to me She cut me off once, saying I am muddy water I think of a postcard she wrote to me Open, to my office address, with tenderness...
When I pine for you, for just one look and one smile from you, I make a lot of noise by writing pedantic poems, telling you all that goes on in my heart and head, but always afraid that this very telling, this very...
Most of us, when overcome by feelings of disconnectedness from our surroundings, experience a sense of inner agitation, which is not that different from the experience of being a stranger.
Just struck 11 On this quiet spring night Friendless. Earlier this afternoon Sat in sun, staring at the trees Thoughtless. Now in this silence I see mourners in PPE suits My friends. My thoughts. Featured image: Woman...
You dismissed my words, remember? You kept track of me to swat at a merest chance And months later, You sent me a philosophical missive For that, here is an ordinary poem Read this and delight in your reflection...
Someone come bury me Don’t wait for me to die When poets are being buried, what of my death See my cut heart Feel its split aches Hear its wild echoes There, see it pushing its way Up through my throat, my eyes...
Most beautiful people are in my head. Why then, when I open my lips, My crazy fingers, and My blossoming heart To speak to them, To write to them, To listen to them They tell me that my lips are foul, My eyes are...
What is this pain in my heart Longing, that old friend and old enemy, That’s what it is. Longing to come home, forgetting that Home is no longer home Longing to press my cheek To the faded cement floor Imagining...
Everyone out. She’s in. Her signature walk, a dancer’s. Her asymptotic look in the elevator, grazing my face like a bullet. Saw her in red today. On my floor, sitting surrounded by plants, facing me. Fully...
Been two years since that “Thank you” letter. More since your twins. A bit more since I wanted to be in your life. I turn the music on. Your face comes back to me, and I fade away from the music. My ears and...
A smile is more real than a kiss Here in Bengaluru my longing amplifies, Becomes anxious. After years and decades of being away Here I am home, away from home. In Bengaluru. Here when folks see me, they long for where I...
Read A Sample (PDF) “A searing portrait of family life behind genteel facades… Honest and compelling. Karamchedu’s pages are as unflinching as they are sympathetic… A frantic, stimulating, and...
Junko Yoshida, EETimes: “At a time when China observers in the U.S. struggle to unlock the mysteries of the Chinese market through academic books, this is probably the first practical volume by an engineering and...
From the Back Cover It’s Not About the Technology is about a phenomenon that is most dreaded by high-technology industry executives: a failure at the execution leading to a missed market window. Executives in the...
Haven’t heard from her for two days. She’s quiet, and I am Making do with her brief messages Asking me to send my pics. In these quiet moments, In her confident pauses, I know–I can feel, An expansion...
I just had a dream. I dreamt that you were trapped in your house. Also, maybe you had fever. I was desperate to see how I can reach you. And then the scene changed. I was knocking on your door. Door opened and your...
I am remembering this. You and I very early days. Walking after dinner late night in Beijing. It rained earlier. I think some young people were walking in front of us. We both were avoiding puddles, and talking. I said...
Saying, “Come here already!” she threw her handbag on the bed. We go places and come home repeatedly. Days, months, years go by, Her love (and lust) never wavers. How did this happen? Her hugs tighter than...
To you, I said I had a crush on you Thinking that you will imagine only little boys have crush, And so will spare me of your adult indignation. This morning, still buried in that crush, I opened my eyes and saw Only...
Today was someone’s last day in our group I saw others go on with their work, After a courteous goodbye. Here I am, feeling how he must’ve felt Watching folks go on about while I, While I am receding in my...
She said this morning, “I don’t know what I am in for, Am I lucky or unlucky…” Ask me why I didn’t say anything, And more important, why I didn’t feel Anxious that she said this. I...
Today I tell you That I was walking in life With a waist hoop That has 360 mirrors around it Facing me, showing me who I am Any step I take Any way I look. Today I tell you That when I was young I fancied 360 versions...
It is back. The swell. The ocean in me, Rising, In a big wave, Heaving recollections Against my eyes. Here I see no one, In this swell I am alone Buried in it. Breaking With some memory Of something. Alone on my island...
She told me this would happen That the time present would fly But the time past would stay. Hearts that pounded together Would break alone, and Divide in solitude, into twins. She said one twin will fly to her And the...
In her river There was no peace. For 15 hours The fish in her child Jumped. For 15 hours She pleaded him to “Please!” stop. On the shore, Sitting next to her, I muttered in myself Thankfuls of gratitude, For...
Fifteen days. Life took over. Wonderful life. Life with breakfast. Seeing her off in the morning. Looking for her in the evening. Looking over the patio, ignoring the neighbors. Everything became home. NDTV on all the...
Saw a red Tesla behind me. Followed me for three blocks Then turned left at the traffic light. Two blocks down the street I pulled into my lot. Imagined the red Tesla would appear Any moment, crashing into me head on...
It is back. Longing for her. Thought I’d turned it inward, Poking to learn how it worked its way. Would’ve been easier if she didn’t say how she loved me. Would’ve sustained a few days more if...
On a cold night like this, I use your memory like a blazing torch. And the three of me jostling, Huddle around you. One digging my grave, The second keeping the flame. And the third, There, put into the pit only a...
This rain, this rain, falls on everything, Like you, a thousand of you, falling on one of me. If you were my imagination, or “muse” as they call it, I would have run you out when I ran out of you. But the...
“Stuck with an old spouse? Here’s what you do. There are ways you can punish her. No, she will never be able to pin it on you. It’ll be up and up, as they say. What? You don’t know what is up and...
