Three Poems by Ashok Niyogi: Now, Let Me See; Here and There; Mantra with a Question Mark

Now, Let Me See

bequeath me
your latest pair of spectacles
because I saw your trees
walk about without eyes
in a forest of wind
I heard you whisper platitudes
into a night of impotent passion
I felt age beginning to tug
at the coldness of your unlit pipe
we could have climbed
our hill more often
even then
when I was small
I understood
the sadness
of your success
I always had your measure
by the thickness
of your spectacle frames

Here and There

what after all is age
for us from the golden age
in these amorphous times
when knotted is the fulcrum
on which the polecat rests
which metro-sexual ladybirds
climb to lay their atomic eggs
let large butterflies hatch
from my steel-grey moustache
and snow on hoary mountains
shatter with a lot of nonsense
let rivers climb
into the coffins of clouds
and love erupt
from volcanoes in tourist resorts
let touts
take us through life by the hand
let wizards in disposable nappies
wave their magic wands

Mantra with a Question Mark

the earth the sky
and Mother Teresa
Jack the Ripper
virtual and real worlds
and all else in between
is lit up with your immanence
even as all suns are
triggered by your will
you play
as you create
even while you meditate
you are the lord and protector
of all that is manifest
yet or never to be manifested
all dissolves into you
the end-game
in that you
I seek refuge
even as I ride
to the crest of a wave
and zigzag down
through laughing sharks
that are also bald vultures
it hurts and blood flows
even as I laugh
I will re-enter your womb
later
right now I suckle at your chest
what then is eternal
how do you define rest
where does your falcon nest

Copyright 2007, Ashok Niyogi. © This work is protected under the U.S. copyright laws. It may not be reproduced, reprinted, reused, or altered without the expressed written permission of the author.

Ashok Niyogi is an Economics graduate from Presidency College, Calcutta, India. He made a career as an International Trader and has lived and worked in the Soviet Union, Europe and South East Asia in the ‘80s and ‘90s. At 52, he has been retired for some years and has been cashew farming, writing and traveling. He divides time between California, where his daughters live, Delhi and the Indian Himalayas. He has published a book of poems, TENTATIVELY, [ISBN : 0-595-33935-2] and has been extensively published in print and on-line magazines and in Chapbook form in the USA, UK, Australia, India and Canada.