Raucous

Borders as they break

Are still painful 

Always painful 

My selves as I have stitched away

Stitched away and forgotten 

My hidden folds 

As they stretch and reveal

And I moan senselessly 

In the laboured angst 

Of my writhing body

My writhing, twisting

My writhing, twisting

My writhing, twisting, shuddering body

Other people scream inside me

People like greedy corporates

That still stake a right 

On my body land 

And then I stare mutely

Mutely perplexed at this 

This new trekker 

My gaze breaks from him

I am gone somewhere

Do I exist in my head

Or in the rubbing with another

Where is my self located

How do I cognise this existence?

The only rescue seems 

To be arriving in short gallops

Sweet and sweetly enticing 

I am falling asleep with sticky fingers

And bitter chocolate in my mouth 

-

Chandni Girija 

August 07, 2022

Lobes

I am connected to you
In ways I do not understand
In the deep heart of a gigantic electrical body
How would wires be connected?
Twisted, Twisted?
Or neatly folded in groups 
And flowing smoothly like a comb river?
A river on an artist's canvas
A river in a cartoon - like Hiedi 
If I am to dive into it
How would I hit the surface?
Would I splash and descend?
Or would I swish and part material
Like a chunk thrown in Tom-Yum soup?
When inside if I were to consider the question again
Philosophically this time
Would, as it happens in Alice's Wonderland, 
A Western, soft-cushioned arm-chair appear for me?
The quiet-lipped diplomat of me would smile at it
Who knows she might even sit on it!
But the Tuljapur girl would look askance
She would dive (again) from her eye-corners
She would swim in the material
She will look for your lobe
She will look for evidence of me extending to you
She may bump against stuff
She may be caught by cross-currents
Why, she may even get so entangled in the noodles 
They might affix her
Or strangulate her
My arm-chair friends might chuckle
Call her naive and stupid
I will call her nothing
I will only see the distinction between both -
My arm-chair self and the Tuljapur girl
The chairy is a survivor, 
A recent entry to the comfort class
Like a house cat evolved from the bhow-bhow mongrel
She entered through the front door, mind you!
The swimmer is a pure seeker 
The artist, the scientist, the child
The swimmer could also be the purpose loyalist 
Her goal once fixed, her momentum unquestionable 
Like, say, the suicide bomber
...
...
...
The pattering rain is loud
It makes you forget things
So are thoughts
So are sophisticated queries
Tell me, now,
What was the question?
I have forgotten, Saare!
The question is inconsequential though
What's phenomenal
Is that the chairy and the swimmer coexist in such close quarters!!

- Chandni Girija
18-07-18

Resurfaced on FB memories

तडजोड

किती किती पाहिले

तुला कापून टाकायला

माझ्या माझ्या अंगातून

तुला सरासर काढायला

विर्घळास बराच

सूर्यास्त झालाय तुझा

पण अचानक सापडतात

अंश तुझे

नुस्त आयुष्य जगताना

इतक्या वर्षांनी आता

चिडण्याचाही कंटाळा येतो

रोगांवर चिडून काय उपयोग?

मग नग्न डोळ्यांनी पाहते

माझ्या पाणेरी देहावर

स्पर्शून जाणारे

बोचरे

अंश तुझे

-

चांदणी गिरिजा

जून १३, २०२२

Weekend

The contraptions of my heart

Have a noose waiting for you

Come my sweet

All you have to do

Is put your head to my chest

-

Chandni Girija

I Wish I Wasn't So Macho

I wish that crying was 
A chore that I could 
Do and complete in
A go and be done with

But as I have grown as

Everything around me 

Crying too crying too

Has become complicated

All I do now is feel

Feel a chafing sometimes

But no tears come as

If my mind and body 

Have joined hands to

Fool me like the cough

In dry cough and I have

No strength to be frustrated

At the constipated tears

I am so distracted 

I am so distracted by the

Sorrow 

All I 

All I could do

All my brain 

All my brain and hands

Could do was to

Spin this 

Poem

-

Chandni Girija

Why Poetry

Why poetry?

Because beauty

Because mercy

Because perspectives

Because arguments

Because theory

Because philosophy

Because aesthetics

Because beauty 

Why poetry,

Why, why, why poetry?

Because children

Because animals

Because trees

Because birds

Because sea

Because rain

Because rainbows

Because beauty

Why poetry,

Why, why, why, why poetry?

Because war

Because hunger

Because disease

Because floods

Because misery

Because wailing

Because songs

Because beauty

They read today

They cried today

They related

They understood

They learnt today

They unlearned

They forgave

They smiled today

They laughed 

They danced

They angered today

They frothed 

They organised 

They petitioned today

And all of it

All and all of it

Was poetry

Oh, simply poetry!

Some called it God

Some said, "Oh goodness!"

Some just fell silent 

But blessed

Blessed, blessed, 

Blessed are those

Who know poetry

Who see poetry

See life

Life and poetry

Life through poetry

Poetry through life

Blessed, blessed, 

Blessed are those

Who pause for poetry

And mad are those

Who breathe for poetry

So if you haven't begun

Start today

Begin your riyaz

And keep at it

Once you taste 

Taste the nectar

You will want to go on

You will go on

And won't help saying,

Why,

Why, why, why,

Oh, why so much beauty, Poetry?

-

Chandni Girija

Day 30 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

A sincere argument for poetry from this small human. Try reading out loud, with heart. I suspect it might reach your heart. 

Signing off here. The journey of 30 days, a month, April ends here. Thanks for reading and being along. Kudos to everyone for existing, for making it through, for forging, for being! Much love and much warmth! 

Cheetahs in, Adivasis out

मैं तेज़ दौड़कर आऊंगा 

कूनो में बस जाऊंगा 

शायद न भी आऊँगा 

तुम्हें जरूर हटवाऊंगा 

यह बोली न मेरी 

न तुम्हारी 

यह बोल-बाला हैं 

दलालों का  

सुन्ना हैं 

झुकना हैं 

हटना हैं 

मर जाना हैं 

यह ग्रह न मेरा  

न तुम्हारा 

यह हरियाली सिर्फ 

हरी नोटवालों का हैं 

-

चाँदनी गिरिजा 

दिन २९/३० | ३० दिनों में ३० कविताएं | राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महीना #नापोरिमो 

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

A painful addition in the series of human-animal conflict. Adivasis of Kuno being displaced in the name of making way for the African cheetah. It is always the most voiceless that pay the price.  

Title of the poem is same in an attempt to honour the report and PARI's work. Do spare a glance.

नील बट्टे सन्नाटा

परिवार खून से नहीं बनता

घर से निकल कर

इससे ढूंढो

जो तुम्हारे हिस्से में

एक टुकड़ा धूप का

जोड़ते हैं

वहीं अपने हैं

वहीं परिवार हैं

उनका मिसाल लेकर चलो

सूखे पत्ते में लपेटकर

धागे से बांधकर

गले में डाल चलो

उम्र के साथ देखो

देखो

यह माला कितनी सजती हैं

इसी को अपनी

अपनी एक कामयाबी समझो

चलते रहो

मगर चलते रहो

पानी की तरह

अपना घर 

केवल अपने अंदर बसाओ

-

चांदनी गिरिजा

दिन २८/३० | ३० दिनों में ३० कविताएं | राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महीना #नापोरिमो

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

पुन्हा, पाऊस

हे डोळे आहेत ना 
हे रंग आहेत ना 
मला दिसत आहेत ना 
आणि 
नि नि नि 
आणि 
डोळे मिटल्यावर 
हे रंग माझ्यावर 
वर्षाव करत आहेत ना 
कृतज्ञ आहे मी
-
चांदणी गिरीजा 

दिवस २७/३० । ३० दिवसात ३० कविता । राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महिना #नापोरिमो 

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Photo by Matheus Bertelli, procured at Pexels 

भवतु सब्ब मंगलं

Sometimes

The best of our intentions

Twist in the wind

And become

Papercuts

- 

Chandni Girija

Day 26 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimi2022

ओली

अंगावरून गेली एकच ओळ

आणि झाली आंघोळ

-

चांदणी गिरिजा

दिवस २५/३० | ३० दिवसात ३० कविता | राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महिना #नापोरीमो 

#napowrimo #napowrimo 2022

Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding procured at Pexels

Have You Seen Bats Sleep?

Folded like small black 
Garbage bags lumped 

With waste and the fold

Angling straight on one 

Side as if the bag held 

A long bone like a femur

If you had to glance up

To be shocked by small

Black garbage bags on

The wide tree branches

And wondered whose

Dumb idea was it to 

Decorate the trees this

Way, who had the hustle

To take this much effort

And what sort of sombre

Celebration was this and

Then have it dawn upon

You that those were not

Small black garbage bags

Those were breathing

Living phenomenon of 

Life and nature and life

And nature and if anyone

Were dumb it was you! 

-

Chandni Girija

Day 24 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

When they say 'Godspeed'

A bead of sweat 

Hangs on his brow

Unable to resist

Drops to join the tar road

He is happy in his toil 

The toil is his only god

He doesn't notice 

The wetness he creates 

In his wake the ground 

Moistens in tiny circles

Circles that slowly join

Hands and push back 

Trees that slowly get 

Burdened by fruits that

Drop to ground one by one

Eaten by ant, rabbit and man

He notices nothing

He is happy in his toil

The toil is his ecstasy 

The toil is his only god

-

Chandni Girija

Day 23 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

९:३२ ची लास्ट लोकल

माझा बीज मला इथून काढावा लागेल

तुझ्या गटारीत काय

माझा कमळ फुलणार नाही

-

चांदणी गिरिजा

दिवस २२/३० | ३० दिवसात ३० कविता | राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महिना #नापोरीमो #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

अब्रू

This is to announce in public awareness

The Bulls are in full throttle today

And they shall be herding through

You are to lie down quietly 

Your honour is for nation's stake

Your intelligence, your dignity

Your sensitivity, all your soft parts

Are mandatory sacrificial offerings

For our nation's image

You are to comply, to obey

Later,

When the Bulls are done

You may cry in a jail

Or you can flee at your will

Trailing your blood-soaked dupatta

- 

Chandni Girija

Day 21 of 30 | 30 Peoms in 30 Days | Nation's Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

The Origin of my Axis

My zero-zero is lost!

My graph now begins 

At random point, jarrs

Breaks, starts again!

I do not make sense to me!

Give me, my math back!

I do not sit well 

In the world of words!

I am knocking at your door 

Again

You let me in

I gravitate to my usual spot

My body cowers

In the force of the question

That hangs in my eyes

That I ask you stealthily

In a glance

That keeps falling onto you

That keeps falling onto you

Askance

Like a crazy magnet

I am a

Picture of a fishhook

Being pulled towards you

Do you not notice the sea-storm?

How in hell, are you so calm?

My menstruating crotch

And my dandruffed scalp

In my sly, pendulating glance

Are asking you just this, my beloved:

Do you

Do you really want me?

The ghost of words 

Has followed me out

I know there's quietude in your house

And I know

That I have left behind

A stain on your sofa

-

Chandni Girija

Day 20 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

The Streetlight

Pulsing in the night

A little broken streetlight

Fighting feebly with darkness

A small hearbeat

Punching holes

In an atrotious blackness

Stamping its will to live

Decades later 

Three Everest conquerors 

Put a bouquet on its grave

They carve an epitaph 

"Thank you for your light

You saved us in the dark."

-

Chandni Girija

Day 19 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

एवढच

रातांची मजा

पुन्हा कळायला लागली

चांदणी पुन्हा

हसायला लागली

-

चांदणी गिरिजा

दिवस १८/३० | ३० दिवसात ३० कविता | राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महिना #नापोरीमो

रचीत

When all names are nouns

You stand out alone

As an adjective

-

Chandni Girija

Day 17 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Fullness

Inch by inch

Drop by drop

She filled up

At thirty-two

She realised

She had 

Come of age

Of all uglinesses endured

A thing of beauty had sustained

Sustained, blossomed, strengthened 

She was fully in her skin

She was fully comfortable 

She carried herself

She carried

Pride and confidence

She took no notice when

No one took notice

She loved herself

Secretly, softly, sensually 

She loved herself 

Fully 

Of all ugliness endured

A thing of beauty had sustained

Sustained, blossomed, strengthened 

Magnificent as a banyan tree

Not for wise men to seat their arses

A walking banyan tree 

She chose whom to give her shade

Of all ugliness endured

A thing of beauty had sustained

Sustained, blossomed, strengthened 

A thing she fell in love with

Everyday, everyday, each day

And when she forgot

She remembered

And realised

She had 

Come of age

She was a woman 

Fully, fully, completely

Of all ugliness endured

She realised

She would forever love

That

She was a woman

Her womanness 

Was her forever love

Her full love

Fully hers

- 

Chandni Girija

Day 16 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

The Tit- for-Tatters

Brackety bark
Hark hark hark
Here come the schemers
The tit-for-tatters
You might have burned them
Once or twice or multiple times
You might have been rude
Reactive
Or simply just existed
Fetter not
The schemers will come
The tit-for-tatters
They have a plan
To roast your buttocks
Fetter not fetter not fetter not
Fear not!
Tread as carefully as you want
You shall walk in
You shall walk in
You shall walk in a waltzing elephant
Into their grandiose trap
Set up for tomorrow
Next week
Even years later
The trap shall lay
The trap shall wait
Like a faithful dog
And when you do
When you fall
When you fall
And get roasted
An elephant with roasted bum
A roasted bum elephant
The expression on your face
The expression on your face
Will be the highlight
The highlight of their day
Their week
Heck
When you fall
And get roasted
An elephant with roasted bum
A roasted bum elephant
The expression on your face
The expression on your face
Will be the highlight
The highlight of their life
So fear not
Fetter not fetter not fetter not
Hark hark hark
Brackety bark

-
Chandni Girija


Responding to #napowrimo 's prompt 'to write a poem about something you have absolutely no interest in.' I have absolutely no interest in this, I cannot do this, my brain wiring does support this, I am absolutely dumb at this (but at least over the years I have grown some intelligence in recognising this) and I will spend a lifetime in getting away from people who do this.
P.S. If you are someone who does this, please, it's just some poetry month gibberish; please forgive me and please, please, plissss don't keep one in store for me!!! And happy Vishu!!


Day 15 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo2022

भिंगरी

कुटुंब गोल असतं 
एकाच भिंगरीच्या त्रिज्यात
गोल गोल फिरायचं असतं 
त्याच माणसांसोबत 
मग ती माणसं रोज तुम्हाला 
गुदमरत असतील तरी
हळू-हळू तुमचा लहान-छोटासा 
सळपा कापून खात असली तरी 
त्याच भिंगरीत रहायचं असतं 
त्याच भिंगरीत फिरायचं असतं
पण धाडस करा 
भिंगरी तोडून बाहेर निघा 
जग गोल नाहीये 
जग प्रचंडपणे चौही दिशांनी 
पसरलेलं आहे 
अस्तित्व मात्र खूपच लहान आहे 
म्हणून आजच निर्णय करा 
पुढे माणूस म्हणून जगायचंय  
कि समाजाचा पाळीव कुत्राच राहायचंय?
-
चांदणी गिरीजा 
दिवस १४/३० । ३० दिवसात ३० कविता । राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महिना #नापोरीमो 
#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

The Colony Sweetheart

If I could take a bite out of the moon 

How would it appear?

A bitten moon shining in sun's light 

A poor bitten moon 

That does not have its own light

Would they still want the bitten moon?

Have they ever wanted asymmetrical things?

The poor moon would hang there lonesome

And would now become 

A receptacle of hatred and controversy

Everyone wanted a bite

And all I did was really take a bite

Haha

-

Chandni Girija

Day 13 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Love by Design

I want us to be simple

Like leaves

With even the veins of enjoinment

Clear as palm lines

Visible where you end and where I

And where we mesh

When we go swimming

You could bob away

Float in your own peace 

And even swim away

I want you to have adventures

Big, fast, slow, small

I want to be one of them 

And when you get tired of them

I could be your home

A home by your logic

Not the diktats of society

I want us wedded to the present

And not the abstraction of eternity

And when you look back

I want to be one of your truest loves

When you look back

I want you to smile

Involuntarily

-

Chandni Girija

Day 12 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

आज समुद्र बोलका आहे

आज समुद्र बोलका आहे ...

बोल, बोल जितकं बोलायचंय तुला

ऐकते मी

कैद होते ना मी दोन वर्ष

बेरंगी सीमेंटीच्या जंगलात

सुटले आज

आणि इतक्या दिवसांनी

भेटत आहोत आपण 

बोल, बोल जितकं बोलायचंय तुला

ऐकत आहे मी

रात्र होऊ दे आज

उद्याची सकाळ होऊ दे

बसुयात आपण 

साऱ्या जगालाच विसरून

सकाळ होता होता

कंठ दुखायला लागेल तुझा

तेव्हा मात्र कुशीत घे मला

वाहत ने मला

त्या तटाला ने मला

इथल्या काळोखानंतर

तिथला सूर्योदय पाहायचंय मला

नेशील ना, सखया?

तुझ्या अक्रोशात शांत होत आहे मी

बोल, बोल जितकं बोलायचंय तुला

ऐकत आहे मी

-

चांदणी गिरिजा

दिवस ११/३० । ३० दिवसात ३० कविता । राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महिना #नापोरीमो 

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Eva

Could I live in a world

Where my language isn't known?

Swashbuckling with penguins

Diving with dolphins?

Hugging snake-filled trees?

Could I feed orphaned baby elephants

Tend to old cows

Have roosters chase me?

Could I float while hippos bathe

Blow bubbles as the crocodiles wait

Crouch in the bushes as the tigers pass?

Could I shake hands with chimpanzees

Play an instrument for the foxes

Could I sit with sparrows?

Could I stop waxing my legs

Forget toilet paper and sanitary napkins?

That, in my opinion, 

That, that, that in my opinion 

Would be my perfect heaven

I could forget my language

And I could learn theirs 

Languages of this world

Could never be dead

-

Chandni Girija

Day 10 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

This poem is inspired by one of most favourite novels - 'Eva' by Peter Dickinson. The title of the poem is same as that of the book - an attempt to honour the work, a dedication, an expression of my utter love for the book! If you haven't read it yet, do give it a try. It was ahead of its times and it still is a bit; however, it is very relevant! 

The Bystander

In all her meticulous appearance

Her ironed clothes and manicured

Hands, trimmed eyebrows and

Perfectly shaded lips, her two slim,

Simple, elegant bangles, her brown,

Flat heels, straight-cut pyjamas and

Sweetly contrasting chunni, a hue for

Each day, her perfectly kohled brown

Eyes and her dangling earrings

Shimmering in black, silver, blue or

Gold, hid one stray strand of hair,

Peculiarly untenable, which she stuck

Sometimes with two hairpins and

Sometimes just let loose

One little streak of her wildness

That she allowed to be, with which

She beckoned subtly, very subtly,

"Come hither," she said, "Come

Hither, you little madness out there,

This is a small hook to climb inside,

Climb inside my imperfect world"

Just a strand of hair, one little comma

One little comma, buried in square 

Brackets

-

Chandni Girija

Day 09 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Peeling

They stand facing the streetlight

Bathing individually in its light

The car arrives and they get in 

One after the other, carefully

The car leaves

They forgot their shadows 

They remain stuck to the sidewalk

The morning sweeper finds them

She sighs and unsticks them

She carries them on her back

She hangs them on her clothesline

Here they dry and finally weep

In the evening they slip down

Join hands and walk away 

They rent a house in the sweeper colony

And here they live contently

In a simple house beside a streetlight 

-

Chandni Girija

Day 08 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

सडपातळ

मला विचारू नकोस 

दुपारच्या तीन वाजता 

मला चिमण्यांचा विचार का येतो 

येतो रे विचार 

मला काळजी वाटते त्यांची 

माझ्या लहानपणाच्या अंगणात 

ते उदंड, विपुल, अमाप प्रमाणात असायचे 

आता विखुरलेत 

कोठे, कोठे गेलेत रे चिमण्या?!

कोठे गेलेत चिमण्या?!

अश्या अभिजात इमारतींत 

सुसंस्कृत बाई म्हणून 

नाही राहायचंय मला!

गचाळ आहे हे सगळं!

अनावर आगळिकीला घडी घालून 

सभ्यता म्हंटलेलं आहे 

माझा विरोध आहे रे 

म्हण, म्हण मला वेडी 

मला मूर्ख म्हण 

पण मला बोलायचं आहे रे 

मला ह्या भिंती फोडायच्या आहेत 

नको, नको आपला हा फाल्स सीलिंग,

हं? 

तोडते मी 

मला पळायचं आहे रे 

मला वाचवायचंय 

मला चिमण्यांना वाचवायचं आहे रे!!!

-

चांदणी गिरीजा 

दिवस ०७/३० । ३० दिवसात ३० कविता । राष्ट्रीय कविता लेखन महिना #नापोरीमो 

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

संदेह कि वफादारी

तालियों को सिलसिला 
अब बस शुरू हुआ हैं 
मुझे तो सिर्फ यहीं देखना हैं 
तेरी ताली कितने जोर से बजती हैं 
क्या मेरे घर में गूंजती हैं 
क्या मेरे मोहल्ले में 
मेरे शहर में 
या 
क्या तेरी ताली 
मेरे लिए बजनेवाली तेरी ताली 
क्या मेरे देश में गूंजती हैं 
तय कर ले 
तू आज तय कर ले 
दोस्त, 
तू कितना कायर हैं 
या तू कितना अटल हैं 
दोस्त मेरे,
आज तू तय कर ले 
क्या तू मेरा दोस्त हैं 
या मेरा दुश्मन हैं? 
-
चाँदनी गिरिजा 
दिन ०६/३० | ३० दिनों में ३० कवितायेँ | राष्ट्रीय कविता लिखन माह | #नापौरीमो 
#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Image: A still from the movie 'Gangubai Kathiawadi.' Source - IndiaToday

ചിരിക്കാമോ?

 'പൊട്ടിച്ചിരിക്കുമ്പോൾ' എന്താ പൊട്ടുന്നത്?
വളകൾ ആണോ?
ബലൂൺകൾ ആണോ?
എന്തോ പൊട്ടുന്നുണ്ട് 
ചിരികേട്ടവർക്കു അറിയാം 
ചിരികേട്ടവർക്കു പറയാം 
ശബ്ദം സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ 
ശബ്ദം നശിപ്പിക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ
എന്റെ മുറ്റത്തു ഇന്ന് ഞാൻ 
എന്റെ മുറ്റത്തു ഇന്ന് ഞാൻ ഒരു
പൂകളം ഉണ്ടാക്കി 
പൂക്കള്ക്കു പകരം വള കഷണങ്ങൾ
പൂക്കള്ക്കു പകരം
വള കഷണങ്ങൾ ഇട്ടു 
കണ്ണുകൾ വെറുതെ ചിമ്മിയാൽ മതി 
നിങ്ങളുടെ കണ്ണുകൾക്ക് പിന്നിൽ
കണ്ണുകൾക്ക് പിന്നിൽ
കാലിഡോസ്കോപ്പ് 
കണ്ണുകൾക്ക് പിന്നിൽ
കാലിഡോസ്കോപ്പ്
നിങ്ങൾക്കും ഉണ്ടാക്കാം
കണ്ണുകൾ വെറുതെ ചിമ്മിയാൽ മതി 
സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്നത് നല്ലതാണ്
സങ്കൽപ്പിക്കുന്നത് നല്ലതാണ്
ചിരിക്കുന്നത് നല്ലതാണ്
പൊട്ടിചിരിക്കുന്നത് ഏറ്റവും നല്ലതാണ്
ബലൂൺകൾ പൊട്ടിക്കാതിരുന്നാൽ മതി 
ബലൂണുകൾ അങ്ങനെ പറന്നു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കട്ടെ

-

ചാന്ദിനി ഗിരിജ 

ദിവസം 05/30 | 30 ദിവസത്തിൽ 30 കവിതകൾ | ദേശീയ കവിതാ രചനാ മാസം #നാപ്പോരിമോ 

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Image Source: Pixabay

Feeling

 Let us push through 
A sliver of glassy sunlight
Through the set skulls 
Of empiricists
Let us kill them
Let us kill them slowly
Let us kill them swiftly 
Let us kill them with poetry
We could scoop their blood then
We could scoop their blood and 
And hydrate the right-angled
Hydrate the right-angled shrivelled
The right-angled shrivelled oaky trees
Shrivelled oaky trees of masculinity
The trees would spruce up perhaps
Bosom up a bit?
Perhaps even fruition
And drop their loads
Onto the acidic land 
The acidic land with high blood pressure
This pulsing land 
This cracking land
And sweeten it a bit?
Who ever knew
Who ever knew
The blood of the objectivists 
Had such suppressed feminity?!

-

Chandni Girija

Responding to Soul Craft's prompt of 'Killing Them With Poetry'

Day 04 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022 #soulcraft

Laughing

The songs of Beirut are calling to me

Beirut, my darling, I miss you too

Your chirpiness, your noises

Your aura of liveness

Goodness, all of it, boxed in 

Boxed in a corner of my brain!

Your laughter, today, jolted me

From my melancholic stupor

Your laughter, today, jolted my

My melancholic stupor

Look at it, look at it!

Uncoiling onto the ground

Uncoiling and falling 

Falling to the ground

Like Cadbury chocolate

Like the chocolate in Cadbury

Cadbury chocolate 

Cadbury chocolate advertisement

How gracefully you fall

How gracefully, melancholy

Melancholy, you ghost!

Be gone from my my-land

Melancholy, you ghost!

Be gone, be banished!

I had forgotten happiness

I had almost forgotten 

I had forgotten the possibility

The possibility of happiness

Melancholy, you ghost!

Be cursed!

Thank goodness for laughter

Beirut's sun peeks out at me

I am reminded again

Again of my Beirutness!

Beirut, my darling

Come hither and hold

Hold my hand, hold my waist

It is such a long time

Such a, such a, such a long time

Since we walked

Walked together 

The streets of Beirut!

-

Chandni Girija

Day 03 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Image Source: Pixabay

Smiling

Let songs fall unbidden
From my throat that is 
Sore from sensible talk
I want to ache with 
Happiness and fall
Asleep with laughter
Dying in my throat

Tonight my heavy 

Eyelids slur in a smile

Tonight, yawn, tonight

I glimpse hope

-

Chandni Girija

Day 02 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Crying for a Gallbladder

The sun rose from the

West today and sank 

In the East, the sun 

The sun, the sun sank

Through her belly button

And frolicked inside

Her right side, her right

Side it burns and tingles

And hurts, her right belly

Side, her right belly side

Burns and tingles as the 

Sun plays inside her and

She cries tears unbeknownst 

Unbeknownst to her

Clear, fat, innocent tears

Tears of a child 

Tears of a mother whose,

Whose child, whose child

She knows will die, will 

Die in her womb tonight

She cries for her child

She cries for herself

And with no one to hold

With no one to hold her

She leans against the 

Kitchen platform and 

Allows the tears

Realising, surprised 

Realising, surprised

Such a rare, such a 

Rare occurrence they 

Were, she smiles, she

Smiles a moment later

Realising, surprised

Realising, surprised

So pretty,

So pretty they were 

-

Chandni Girija 

Day 01 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimo2022

Untitled

Last night's slumber

Clinging at corners of my eyes

The heaviness revealing

In the fullness of my lips

- Feb 26, 2016

From the Archives, thanks to 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...
-
Feb 26, 2012
(From the archives; discovered on Facebook Memories)

Untitled

Look at me! 

See how I sprain 

My neck, my waist 

As I twist in your light!

Spare once a glance

At my eager face

Its lilting passion

The want, the pursuit it betrays!

I'm larger

Wider

Wombing much more light,

But this distance

This sweet, arching distance

Twains us like a mirror

You appear on the left, me right

You larger, me diminutive!

I'm rendered 

With nothing but desire

In the grandness of this illusion

What is to be done

Than seek you, O moon, my?

Deign to bend

An inch, a small light year

Let, if nothing,

Your shadow touch my lips

And some fruition occur

To this twig-tailed rhapsody!!

-

Chandni Girija

Jan 31, 2017

Breathless

Before the bubbles rise in my head

Before the froth starts slipping from my eyes

Before my tongue begins arcing ingratiatingly to your ghost tongue

Let me take my leave

Let me run

Go!

Before my madness pins us both to the bed and buries us there

- 

Chandni Girija

Bending Down to the Pole Star

Where do I go from here?

I am left now

With this lapping ocean

Trapped inside of me

The rose petals shed

Now from my glasses

I am dry-eyed, chap-lipped

All I need

Is one dry seed in dry soil

A dry seed in dry soil

That will prick

A tiny hole on my numbness

Start a little trickle

So that as I brave new steps

The earth doesn't flood

And I do not drown

- Chandni Girija

Jan 26, 2022

New Year Resolutions

Twelve stones to keep

Each a reminder 

Each a boon

But I have only ten fingers

Each irreplaceable

I keep one on each fingernail

Five on the left convered

What now, with the rest?!

I toss the seven stones

In my right hand

I catch only three

Whom now, was I fooling?!

Do I go about the day

Or sit here, a stoned fool?!

I swallow a couple

Oh, oh no!

They drag down my pit!

What now, with the last one?

I see a passing dog.

When it yelps,

I know I have

Bloody figured it out!

-

Chandni Girija

Jan 25, 2022