I linked my Aadhaar to my PAN card.
Then I linked my PAN card to my bank account.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my bank account.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my tax return.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my LPG gas connection.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my mobile phone.
Then the Government issued a decree ordering
that all persons must link their Aadhaar to their heartbeat
within three months or face discontinuation of the heartbeat.
Namo…nnamaha! Vande Mataram!
Mothers and sisters, our salutations to you!
Only make sure your limbs are fully swathed
Smothered with textile, yard upon yard of silk or polyester
Head covered, face veiled with ghungat or scarf.
I have loved in life the same as you,
won and lost that hand a time or two,
but never cursed the way that cards were dealt,
never blamed the course of shooting stars,
never bet my luck on pennies falling from the sky,
never begged for more or less than what is fair.
I have watched ancient cities crumble across the screen,
laughed and wept in madness at burning dreams,
but never thought my faith was not enough,
never went to war without just cause,
never blinded eyes to spite the heart,
1
Let’s engulf ourselves in flames tonight
We’ll set fire to the wind
Let’s engage in madness
In heaps of clover, weed and gin
Why don’t we erect an effigy
To the pillars of the fringe
Do away with the conformists
Let them wallow, cuss and cringe
For dragons walk with us my friends
In this march toward glory
One day the crisp sea breezes
Will softly tell OUR stories
And we will rise the heroes
Us, the rebels and the bastards
Reigning a soft, stale victory
When we dispatch our masters
Jumping straight from one bad lover to the next,
surface attraction only, a means to an end,
no thought of suitability or compatibility.
Never been ‘Single’ for more than a few days at a time…
yet, has always felt alone and lonely.
Traded ‘Alcohol’ in for ‘Drugs’, then back again,
before settling for both at the very same time.
Never looks at, nor fixes, the ‘Problem’
(and she has quite a few of those)
only medicates and temporarily Band-Aid’s the results.
‘Short-cuts’ are all that are known,
oh god
oh god
bless our di
degraded us
at old pi
oh god
oh god
bless the Corps
that taught us
all to pray for war
oh god
oh god
whose guns
we bear
give us ears1
or scalped hair
oh god
oh god
for you we fight
snatching natives
before dawn’s light
so god
from whom
all blessings flow
while we kill
I met a lonely woman.
To whom hope was a luxury.
She was a maiden to misfortune.
Her dress, an interpolation, of curious eras:
Half medieval, half stone age.
She stood bending, like a moon walker
Tired of this realm of man.
Mid-term of life, her song was soured.
Sheaves of grieves
Were the harvests of her world apart.
Sowing in pain and reaping tares.
I met a lonely woman –
Haggard, bereft and worn-out;
Unkept and disheveled.
Staring like an apparition.
Clutching at life,
where are the voices of peace
on the eve of the feast of francis of assisi
i am listening
i hear
politicians politicizing
and
executive directors of peace organizations who
seem to be lost in their own importance and
journalists
who are
using canned bits
because they have lost their voices
the world is weeping
tears are a catalyst for thoughts and prayers that
evaporate quickly
was it kierkegaard who said
prayer does not change god
it changes the one who prays
Arm every man, woman and child—
Make us gunmen, gun women and children;
Strap every school kid with a gun belt—
Extra gun and clips in backpacks; make them
Study stand your ground; and
Teach to the test on target ranges;
Celebrate10-ring shooters of the year—
and encourage cool clothing with
Logos of gun manufacturers!
Make every teacher
professor and preacher
Carry a sidearm—
Every super, bus driver,
train operator, crane operator,
construction worker, warehouse
worker—radio programmer,
Torch-wielding hate-mongers,
Your time is over.
Where once stood your statues
Will grow fields of clovers.
The hour grows late,
And your gaslights are dim.
We’re not here anymore
To exist on your whim.
Your monuments crumble,
And fall piece by piece.
Those you oppress
Shall be released.
No more shall your rhetoric
Rule heart or mind.
The vile past you deify
Will be left behind.
Gnash your teeth in the darkness,
Wail, cry, and wring your hands
But our time is now.
