Roots

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Nun-naani

Nun-naani nun-naani
Nunni-nun-naani
Nun-naani nun-naani
Nunni-nun-naani

Black nose grape eyes
Nunni-nun-naani

Bum wiggle copter tail 
Nunni-nun-naani

Egg dance chicken dance
Walk dance
Side glance
Slide-under-leaf slow-motion trance

Intact males are beautiful
Biped males are scary ghouls
Cats are curse
Urine-marked stumps wonderful library
Nun-naani nun-naani
Nunni-nun-naani

Human has done 
Weak whistle again
Trot trot trot 
Legs four trot
Up down up down
Ears two flop!
Nun-naani nun-naani
Nunni-nun-naani

Hurt human port belly
Hurl-jump
Kiss-gaze stance!
Egg dance chicken dance 
Side glance 
Walk plop trot 
Back glance!!

Nun-naani nun-naani
Nunni-nun-naani
Nun-naani nun-naani
Nunni-nun-naani
-

Chandni Girija 
Day 05 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2026

Saturday, April 4, 2026

Bumble Bio

My goodness, the blueness!
When did she grow those veins
And those lips?
I am throbbing adolescence
In my late thirties?

Corn-fed dog food
They actually meant horses

Multiplying daily
Gnomes

I like this rum cake 
This Christmas evening 
And this American television

-

Chandni Girija

Day 04 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2026



Friday, April 3, 2026

The Monkey Man

Just as the weather
The monkey man
Would jump jump down my chest
And onto my arm
Just as the weather
The monkey man
Would slither on my wrist
And run a running gash
Just as the weather
The monkey man
Would plop plop plop down the floor
I sit here watching drops of my blood
I sit here watching my life ebb away 
I wouldn't move 
My eyes would move
"Catch catch catch"
"Catch the monkey man"
Just as the weather
Would beat down the horizon
My eyes would fall 
Upon the floor
And the floor would catch 
My beaten eyes
My colden gaze
Just as the weather
Would turn 
So cold cold cold
-
Chandni Girija 

Day 03 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2026

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Balcony

Such squareness his shoulders
The white banyan
The white thread
The astuteness his arms
The fairness his nape
Such shapeness his back
My new knowledge is round
-

Chandni Girija 

Day 02 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2026

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Eyelore

Maroon
Lifting in a cloud
A saree swaying in the crowd
An elephant sashaying plod

It is like a bullet to my chest
A burst so sudden I am gone
Then I am back
And I watch 

Eyelashes
So long 
Irises brown, pupils red
World round
Swallowing all down 

I wallow like a pillow
Holding the punch of the resting head
It makes no sense I know 
But for crying out loud

Wetness flows like no stops
Breaking in thuds
Over little dams
Wetness seeps
Irrigates the field
Do these seeds break ground?

-

Chandni Girija

Day 01 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2026

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

The Boiling Frog

To be the rubric or not
To be the content or not
The metric tone of my heart
And the keen pulse in my palm

Words are clear
Horizon is paved
Yesterday’s snow is neatly dishevelled

Somewhere a tiny gap
a little puddle of pothole
an imperfection
a sighing breath
beating there—
the heart joining my heart

The sound echoes with the system
the system echoes that sound
that sound pulses in that trench
that trench beats my heart
Therein lies my heart—
the heart joining my heart

The merry
  the merry
    the merry
merry-go-go-go-round
goes round and round and round

beating to the ground—
a broken breath
heaving there—
the heart joining my heart
Chandni Girija

Sunday, June 15, 2025

പ്രേതവേർപാട്

 
ചാമ്പൽ കാറ്റ് 
എന്റെ കണ്ണ് നിറഞ്ഞു ഒഴുകുകയാണ് 
ചാമ്പൽ കാറ്റ് വീശുകെയാണ് 
ഇങ്ങനെ കരയാം 
കരഞ്ഞു കരഞ്ഞു ഉറങ്ങാം 
കൊച്ചു കുഞ്ഞിനെപ്പോലെ 
ഉറങ്ങാം

ഈ ദിനം അനാഥേയായിപ്പോയല്ലോ 
ഇന്നത്തെ അഭിവാദ്യം സ്വീകരിക്കാൻ 
ആളില്ല്യല്ലോ
അനാഥ ദിനം

ശരീരം കത്തി ചാരമായികഴിഞ്ഞീട്ടും 
സ്നേഹം അവശേഷിക്കുന്നുണ്ടല്ലോ 
അനാഥ സ്നേഹം 
#fathersday
അതിനു പോകാൻ ഒരു ഇടംമില്ലല്ലോ
ആ അനാഥ സ്നേഹം 
കത്തിക്കൊണ്ടേയിരിക്കും 
ചാമ്പൽ കാറ്റ് 
വീശിക്കൊണ്ടേയിരിക്കും

പ്രേതങ്ങൾ സ്നേഹങ്ങളാണ് 
പ്രേതങ്ങൾ നല്ലത്താണ്  
അവക്കി 
വേർപാടുകൾ ഇല്ല 
അവ 
നമ്മളോടൊപ്പമേ പോകുമൊള്ളൂ 

ചാന്ദിനി ഗിരിജ 
 

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Untitled

Last night's slumber
Clinging at corners of my eyes
The heaviness revealing
In the fullness of my lips
-
February 27, 2016
Thank you Facebook memories!

Untitled

 oh sunny days have set in....
sunrays through the window
i watch them curiosly
i know if i go out
the scorch will get my forehead
and i might look above
the yellow source of this all...
the yellow of light
of creation
of existence
oh yellow...
i might just get lost in u...
-
February 26, 2012 
Thank you Facebook memories!

Sunday, October 13, 2024

An Archetypical Burst

So much thinking, so much time away, away from writing. Thinking about writing, how I want to put it out. Thinking about writing ideas. 
And lately, "You haven't written anything in a while, Chandni." 
"Well, it makes sense, with so much practicality taking over? Haven't you been enjoying it?"

It did make sense, and I respected it. Until today. Till sometime back. A flutter in my chest. Two Bumble chats that I enjoyed. Two people. Why does it rekindle me this way? Why do I feel poetic? Existence is a mystery, components of it are, components of me are. 

A visual if I wanted to give it one: citrusy! Tiny, sparsely collected, drops of citrus on the tongue. The olfactory landscape bursts too, you see. And the tactile? Awakened. Look at the awakened tongue! A beginning of a movement. A movement into dance. Look at its feminine twirls! :)

"Did you break your hiding, Chandni? Did you give yourself up, for a moment, here?!"
"Well, let them find me."


Monday, February 12, 2024

Untitled

The moon slipped from her forehead
Slid down her hair
The sun jumped in from the window
And into her eyes
He waltzed in them
Left and right he swam
Until she had to open them
"Good morning sweet," he said
The world was a wonderous burst of warm, cream, white
Cradling a zest
Zesty like citrusy oranges
Of excitement to come and a to-do list
She smiled back sweetly and hugged the new day
-
Feb 12, 2017
(Thank you, Facebook Memories!)

Friday, October 6, 2023

नाही

काळोख असा वाकुन पडलाय
रात्र चिंब-चिंब रडत आहे

मी नाही उचलणार तुला
बिलगू देणार नाही

माझा पान्हा मी साठवत आहे
तुझ्या संगोपणाला नाहीये 
तुझ्या फाटक्या कंठानी 
रडत बस
मी पाऊल टाकलाय बाहेर
या क्षितिजातुन

दिवस कसा अनेकरंगी येतोय
मोरपिसासारखा 
कुरवाळतोय, ओठांना माझ्या
हे असे मला गुदगुल्या होतात
विसरले होते 
-
चांदणी गिरिजा
ऑक्टोबर ६, २३

छायाचित्र: अंजना सी.

Friday, September 8, 2023

I Miss the Sea

Saudade. That is what I am feeling now. A terrible yearning for the sea. The touch of soft sand. The breeze tousling my hair. The sounds! Oh! The sound of waves. Rhythmic, tumultuous, rebellious, calm. How meditative! All of this, and the horizon. I could stare and stare and stare and stare. Ha. So pleasurable! 
It's a misnomer, a transferred epithet. It is the beach that I miss, not the sea. Oh, what an ache it is!
Take me to the shore. Take me home! 


Thursday, July 6, 2023

അഗ്നിനോട്ടം

തീയിലേക്ക് നോക്കാൻ നീ 
പേടിക്കരുത് 
നിന്റെ തീ നിന്റെ സത്യമാണ് 
തീ തുപ്പാതിരുന്നാൽ മതി  
തീ വിഴുങ്ങാതിരുന്നാൽ മതി 
തീയിലേക്കു നോക്കിനില്കുമ്പോൾ 
നിന്റെ കണ്ണുകള്ക്ക് 
വല്ലാത്ത ഭംഗിയാണ് 
നിന്റെ സ്ത്രീത്ത്വത്തിനു 
അലങ്കാരമാണ് 
അഗ്നിനോട്ടം
-
ചാന്ദ്നി ഗിരിജ

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Eve's Apples

The raindrops on our naked arms
Are raucous
We are lost in the bustling
Cacophony of this city
We are two wild animals
Walking in civilised clothes
Only our raincoats are honest,
Transparent 
Our loves are impure
Our motivations muddled
We have banished sensibility
To a humble hut in the Andamans 
Our arms brush 
As we are pushed closer
By this stifling crowd of desires
We aren't good for each other's health
And yet all we want to do
Is eat each other
-
Chandni Girija

Monday, June 12, 2023

പ്രണയം

പ്രണയം വികാരമല്ല 
സ്രോതസ്സാണ് 
ജീവസ്രോതസ്സ് 
എന്റെ ചുണ്ടകളിൽ 
നാണിച്ചു വീഴുന്ന മഴതുള്ളികളെ 
ഞാൻ തിരിച്ചു ചുംബിക്കുമ്പോൾ 
എന്റെ ആയുസ്സ് 
ആ ദിവസത്തെ എന്റെ ആയുസ്സ് 
അവിടെ കൂടുകയാണ് 
-
ചാന്ദിനി ഗിരിജ 
ജൂൺ 12, 2023 

Sunday, April 30, 2023

White

I put my hand out
For some fresh air
Oh!
I have been kissed!
Tuft of soft silky white
Hair held by a seed
Oh!
Whoever thought
I did not but
I witness now
Seeds 
Seeds can fly!
Coming all this way
From miles and miles
Stopping here
To give me a kiss
Such an abundance 
Abundance of spirit
This home tree is
No, no, no, no
I am not letting
You get away
I believe now 
I deserve kisses
I will preserve now
Each and every kiss
Each and every kiss
I will plant this kiss
I will plant this seed
In my orchard
I will fashion now
A hair clip of the
Silken tuft
Such beauty, see?
Such, such, such 
Beauty, see?
It will go infinitely 
Well with my grey
And white
Grey and white
My grey and white
Peppery peppery hair
-
Chandni Girija 

On prompt, as a palinode to this poem
 
Day 30 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Maan-ga Maan-ga


1. 
Maan-ga Maan-ga is notorious 
The most sensuous of fruits
Succulent and sweet
Tell me
Tell me if you aren't ravenous
For some mango flesh, what
What are you?
A dried up morose
Moribundity?

2.
All that mango said was
"Excuse me"
And this uncouth gent went
And squeezed it
Have you lost your rubric 
Your sense of space
Respect for a fruit life? 

3.
Madam activist lady
What I did was 
My interpretation
Of the presentation
And some gestation 
In-between
Didn't you begin with
Sensuousness of fruit
And in paragraph two 
You changed like a 
Personality split into two
Take this fruit basket
Go sell twelve mangoes
For now don't throw 
Your popply fruit rights at me
-
Chandni Girija

Day 29 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

I attempted Maureen's prompt to write a two-part poem that focuses on a food or type of meal giving it at least one line of spoken dialogue and at some point describe it as if it were a specific kind of person. This poem ended up having three parts. 

*Maanga is mango. It is pronounced this way in South India. There is no letter in the English alphabet for the actual pronunciation of this 'ga.' 

Image by PDPics from Pixabay 

Friday, April 28, 2023

A Turmeric Secret

It sleeps in the morning's bosom
A turmeric secret
The dead rat has been dried 
By yesterday's sun
Today it has turned to a papad
The hungry dog sniffs at it hopefully 
The morning joggers balk 
The school traffic begins to assemble
Night is now a small dot 
On this street
The morning clutches 
The front end of its sari
And tucks it in the waist
The morning is such a boisterous lady
She sweeps away the remaining specks
Of the howling night
The weakly protesting night
-
Chandni Girija 

Day 28 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global/National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Why do I Write?

Why so many colours
Bursting, mixing, shading
Why so many colours
Why these tunes
Why the rhythms 
Why add the music 
Why animate the words
I think I want to paint
I think I want to sing
I think I want to dance
And all I do is write
All I can do is write 
All I can do through writing
All I can do through just writing 
Little rivers inside me
All they want is to flow
Painting rivers
Song rivers
Dance rivers
They dam against my inanimate hands
My inanimate voice 
All I do is type
All I can do is type 
Bore little holes on the dams
Channel the struggling water
Temper the flow
All the water wants is to flow
The water 
The water must flow
Must, must flow
The water must flow
-
Chandni Girija

Day 27 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Months #napowrimo


I have been asking myself why my poem posts on some mediums are in a certain way. Lately, they have been ending up on YouTube. This is a meta piece on that line of enquiry. However, the biography of the why is still incomplete, I suspect. 
This would have been a fitting last day poem. It came out today though. 🙂 This is one of those poems that requires recitation; not so much of a cerebral one. But then, again, I am trying to sing 🙂