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