JUVENILE

JUVENILE

A child, a juvenile,

Just months short of eighteen.

Forgive him, reform him,

Set him free.

Civilized nation, WE

Must not be blind and SEE-

He dropped out of school

For the evils of the street,

Poor thing.

But a bright fellow

He knew-

A penis can do more than pee

A penis can plunder

And what is left undone

With a rod can be done.

A child, a juvenile

Set him free.

GETTING UNMARRIED

Ticking bio clocks

And talking aunts-

You must get married

By the end of March.

All that’s needed

Is to unlock the gandhis and hoarded gold,

And find a man who at this price

Is ready to be sold.

“Divorce is a dirt word-

Dare not dream.”

“Things will be fine.”

“Think of the child .“

“This is now your only home.”

But when you smell

A careless whiff of cooking gas,

When you feel the bubbling venom

Vying for your womb,

Its time to GET UNMARRIED child.

Pack up the grit and forgotten grain,

Leave back the grime and yellow pain

Shut the door, never to go back there, again.

Sreeja Nair

MUMBAI ON WHEELS

Metal snakes on metal roads,

Hissing its way to heaving halts,

Swallowing and vomiting a world of men-

All on their feet, all on a run.

Clinging to life with a finger,

They can grin

Precariously perched

For it’s better than sweating in.

A shoulder that can give

An apathetic shove,

Can lend a hand

To let in a toe.

Destinations are distant,

But paces are fast-

Compartments evolve into kitchens

And busy briefcases, coffee tables

Invisible in the flow,

I, a frozen spectator

With pillars and posts

Watching-

A machine on wheels,

Man on machine,

A machine in man.