The Dilated Song

Wish I could slow down

the song I play,

buying dilated time.

Its tempo reigned in,

but it's timbre intact,

for I dare not change the tune.

Will it help the dreams 

linger on in a trance,

a tad longer,

a minute or two,

a second or an hour,

a day or eternity.

The song heralds eternity,

and it plays in a loop.

Alas, time, its vagaries,

is linear, is a knife.

It rips open the winter jacket,

but it cuts cakes too...

-- Leslie

Love, A Reflection

In a world without mirrors,

sans judgement,

and harsh glares,

I would spend

the vanity left in me

to cry, then reflect...

I become my mirror.

And, in the images

flashing by,

droplets of cold sweat

provide gloss

as well as the shivers.

Then, three hours past midnight

I touch her,

she kisses me,

and we see

our reflections merge,

within hand-held Amoled frames.

... In a world without mirrors,

three hours past midnight!

-- Leslie 

Winter Longing

Lost for words, are we?

No. It's just that 

no brew could drown longing,

the one in winter...

​It is but a whiff of winter, sure,

yet the longing grows for

the warm rays of a sun

as seasoned as the coffee 

made by the first Italian barista,

or as potent as the sun

outside the smoking room

of an Indian cafe.

But it rained outside too,

and when it did once,

and when the leaves turned

greener with envy,

it indeed was a reminder

winters don't last,

but its longing does,

and it freezes it below nought.

-- Leslie

​Poetic Reality

If it's​ a slap one seeks,

look no further...

Pick a mundane pen,

write poems under the sun,

wrap it in soiled,

oil soaked crumpled newspapers,

preferably with stale news;

take it up a flight of stairs.

​And ​when,​ ​only when it's past midnight,

light it up...

Hold it up longer,

enough to burn the fingers

which held the pen,

and also held meaning

​a ​mere few seconds back.

Leave it there, let it burn.

Morning, read from the ashes​.​

​C​ry... Pry open the poetry chest,

search again,

soul searching, hole searching,

and write:

Some verses for posterity,

some for the next paper

to wrap the day's love and effort​.​

-- Leslie

The Milky Way

The flashes are daily now, 

the forgotten Astrophysics lessons,

-- meant for the stars,

grounded for substance --

visits me in the mornings...

When, earlier,

I would only see chaos

dancing at the traffic lights

next to my window,

the dance for a living.

Now, I deal with bubbles,

brewing in the warmth 

of my words,

thoughts and deeds,

a fine white brew

meant to be gulped down,

but sipped, always, like whiskey.

That's a galaxy, it's the Milky Way,

and it's where science ends,

and my art begins.

​-- Leslie

Flowering Epitaphs​

​If there were a few plaques

placed in random order

next to my flower pots,

would that make them

party to the larger injustice

the blooms ​highlight?

Life, indeed, is a collection

of epitaphs​ in stale air​,

some lost in the attic,

some to the vagaries of

destructive rebuilding,

and many among flowers...

... In random order,

the ​notions gather grime,

​my dog chases squirrels around them.

His present, mine too,

​and the world stays

shrouded in smog.

-- Leslie

The World in a Cupcake

I seek dreams in the embers,

the stragglers which linger on,

after the flame was doused

by the will of the girl.

It is life she

holds aloft tonight

-- a blueberry cupcake,

and our world.

A very different 

winter moon sings too,

shedding arrogance and indifference.

The hymns, no the chimes,

the songs of destiny,

leave me gasping for verses,

to breathe into her poem

that would reignite the flame.

The embers smile,

they know exactly why...

They need her breath 

of fresh air, 

but are yet to fathom her words.

Two winters into her book,

I am yet to metre 

its depth either.

-- Leslie

The Whining River

In ​torrential ​spate 

it realised​ ​​the bunds,

​the boundaries​,​ 

were not ​set by its will.

​They belong to the contractor

who poured the concrete​, 

a quick mix, 

a quicker fix,​

​marked the limits,

killed ​its flow,

and tamed ​its will​,

bounty, reverence notwithstanding.​

Well, I'll be damned,

but aren't we all dam​m​ed!

​And, amidst the cacophony

of an eerily silent night,

we hear ourselves​

​whine like the winding river...

​-- Leslie​

A Sleepy Destination

The sheer thanklessness

of a winter night

gives us the right bearings,

and light,

to embark on a journey, 

any journey,

even the ten paces required 

to reach sleep.

Oh, indeed!

It is but sleep we crave for,

plan in earnest,

and pay for,

with the dreams,

the kind we all see,

and then fail to live,

come winter, or summer.

-- Leslie 

Ode to the Midnight Shadow

​If the shadow,

the one dancing outside

my window,

dares to move yonder,

across the road,

he will get arrested...

For sleepwalking, 

says the cop who snores on duty.

He reminds us of light,

of vision, or the lack of it.

He gyrates,

in and out of reality checks.

While we, hither, sit back,

stretch our egos,

talk with our fingers,

salvage conscience with a retweet.

-- Leslie

How to Age a Poem

​A few lines,

which, in its existence,

is older than the writer,

the bard, 

who scribbled the words

when he was in his 40s.

Now, how will a child

grow older than her father?

If the verses were written

with an half empty rum bottle

kept dangling near 

the pen that is showing its age;

and if it is read over wine,

a young, angry, red bottle,

the cheapest possible blend,

cheaper than the recited words....

Then, it grows old, the poem;

the writer gets younger,

and we all heave in

the brown, polluted,

yet sensuous air... 

So, shall we?​

-- Leslie 

Salvation in a Tea Cup

The game ended prematurely.

Sigh!

The tease from the empty cup

was over in seconds, 

even before I could 

burp out the verses;

it lasted barely two lines...

The first, a dedication,

to the evening,

the second, to the last drops

of the brew,

stuck to the edges 

waiting for salvation,

the kind we all deserve.

The stains remain,

on the evening sky,

and the coaster carrying

baggage from John Lennon!

-- Leslie

Window Seat​ Blues

The ​rolled up glass,
my whimsical barrier

for a shrinking playpen.

Will it keep a childhood immortal?

And keep out the dust 

from an unkempt Indian highway .

We see reality rush,

in haste, a future, 

destiny and her wheat shoots.

The passing fields 

demand to be sowed, reaped

and then burnt to dirt.

It combusts fast though,

the minutes,

and the fuel in our car.

The radio comes alive,

let us run, baby run;

toward nowhere, yet everywhere.

Toward everything

but this trepid window,

for just behind it lurks our future.

-- Leslie

Rain-Drenched Autocracy

​In the recess between rains,

when there is dew,

the ones that lack the 

honesty of the droplets 

who unabashedly drench us,

and drown us in

their version of love.

Hard love,

slippery love;

and, over the course of

a torrential exuberance,

some cold love...

Frozen,

like the railings

of my balcony door,

the metallic reality in it
I tasted this day,

using its truth to

numb the index finger,

the one I use to point

at life, at others,

at misgivings and notions;

at my fallacies,

at those dusty books even...

Hardbound,

words flood their pages,

like how Delhi was this evening:

In shallow water,

but largely out of its depth,

it reeled... 

When it should've scripted songs,

and then harvested

the fruits of poetry,

the vague, distant yield, 

an honest free will

amidst autocracy.

-- Leslie

The Home

These strands I strum,

six strings from the fabric

woven with notes

that would, some day, make 

the symphony I'm yet to compose, grow;

a poem I am yet to write, sing;

the brew I am yet to drink, read;

yet to... yet to....

It stretches from my seat,

where I rest 

breathing heavily,

perhaps sighing,

with my back to the wall,

no, it's a pillar.

It ends on the ideology

that makes you a teacher now.

Strung and tuned, softly, 

it is ready for music;

the songs are stubborn, still;

and lightning throws a tantrum, again!

Then, in my peripheral vision 

the respite arrives, holds me firm,

the rain-kissed canopy in green,

and a life-drenched heart in red. 

-- Leslie 

Seek n Hide

​In my actual space I, 

carrying a flashlight, virtually,

stumble in darkness,

feel the edge of a work desk

for direction,

cut my hand on its

chiseled existence,

and call it poetry and justice.

It must be the apocalypse,

for it remains hidden,

the desk,

its writing instruments,

and its intent...

But, in time, maybe tomorrow,

when it starts to rain,

I may author the Bible.

I seek a virtue amongst

the long shadows on my desk, 

the sarcastic ink bottle

I hardly use,

and within the pile of

forgotten music notes,

I search for songs and sin

to find light, write the Psalms.

-- Leslie 

Humid Hangover

This humid blanket,

the fever it gifts,

​is all ​I can muse on,

​and scribble on the wet floor.

The rain stopped last night,

the songs this morning,

and the still air offers​ a wry smile​;

it tells me of today,

yet yanks me into timelessness,

where it shows​​

in infinite ways, love​...​​

​A few drops touch me,

others ​kiss ​the leaves 

and ​rusty ​park benches;

soothing them first,

drowning them later.

​-- Leslie

The Wrinkled

On my terrace,
when I sidestep a crater,
and walk to the west edge,
I know I let hypocrisy survive,
run its course,
and feel blissfully immortal.

Who craves the sun more?
So I walk;
they needed a leader,
and you, dear friend,
needed a freemason to pour
grout on the cracked, wrinkled floor.

Floor?
It is the roof,
the one destined to leak,
drip, drop,
and a river cried by
a poet of very little means.​

-- Leslie 

Ire in the Sleeping Hall

In a daze, time leaves me,

always.

it's midnight,

I am yet to shed my skin,

and sprawl without shame,

without the ironies

that define​ me,​​ 

and ​the hour's light blue light!

12, the reminder

comes with youthful vigour,

shake me up;

but I waste another hour

in jest,

mocking myself,

killing the ​words of 

​birds ​who ​tweet​​​​ for salary.

Dazed, bruised, 

yet in unpopular consciousness,

I remain,

till sleep wakes me up,

splashes ire on my face,

​cleanses my ​mouth 

off bad poetry,

and tucks me into bed.

​-- Leslie 

Ode to the Monday Rain

Today, if I were to rush,

it would only be till

the window...

To strain for berries, 

and then to catch 

the tones I missed

in the song that's on loop

since morning.

After all, it is Monday, 

a Sabbath for poets.

Monday rains are shy,

selfless creatures of creation;

they talk in whispers,

sing in sighs; 

leave us with introverts two,

a background score 

that loses to the blues

in our playlists;

the mist, gentle and subdued, 

who stays backstage. Always.

If the cold drops were smokers,

or had warm breath like

the kids of Democracy,

they could leave

symbols on my pane.

Footnotes on the music,

their sense, the belonging,

and who bears the bill

for their concert;

I see an empty hall.

-- Leslie Xavier

A Lyrical Reality

If I were to fall short

of words today,

and fail,

will there be a second chance

to sing, try once more, 

the song my daughter loves...?

No...

I hear the song

played in a loop,

a random algorithm,

which shows me the futility

in what I desire.

I yearn to memorize lines,

but they are too laden

with leaves ready for the fall,

too heavy...

Instead I store passwords,
mindless, meaningless protection.

If I were to fall short,
that fate walked in because
the lines I should cherish,

were the ones I sold;

to those who are tone deaf,

mute, and mostly arrogant.

Who are they, though?

Why are they playing 

the songs

my daughter loves!

-- Leslie Xavier

A Rainy Day

There,

above those tall, old trees,

and beyond reckoning,

you will find resolution,

answers to those equations 

with aspirations of grandeur.

​The myth sings,

there is a cloud over there, 

born with you, for you.

It keeps your due,

some dew, a poem

and a bit more rain drops.

Those drops you will need,

you would crave,

and chase in uneven spurts,

with ironed out emotions,

for you are seeking solace 

to wash it all off when it matters least.

My cloud hovers there, I see,
and it rains here this morning.

-- Leslie Xavier

Ode to the Dancing Tree

​If it sways

in tune with the wind,
I would call it a tree

with conviction...

Toward the music in the storm,

the rhythm in the dust

it kicks up,

our powdered egos.

Oh, indeed what we need

is conviction, a bit of honesty.

The world craves such follies,

to save itself from radios,

and speeches of bearded supremos,

Sundays, weekdays, every day,

while we seek corners where 

there is music, and also some silence.

The trees have stopped their dance,

the wind is but a tired labourer

trudging home,

after a toil for relevance.

It is monsoon, 

but these seasons hardly matter.

Yet we long for the rush,

some melody, and some stillness.​

-- Leslie Xavier

​​Songs From My Backyard

Some stayed back,

​oh well, they ​remain grounded,

unambitious​,​ ​yet happy

among fallen mango leaves

in my backyard,

circa 1994...

Oh, how the memory fails​,​

rots,

becomes compost for trees

like those long buried leaves.

​The tunes​, though,​ play true​,​ fresh;

sweat in the humid sun, alive;

​and ​make ​my daughter sway

​while leaves fall still in denial.

Am I in denial too,

or is it just the lyrical irony

​in ​poems who forgot they're songs,

and chose ​earth,​

​and an eternal flux defending

ethical dilemmas and carnal absolutes.

-- Leslie Xavier

Isle of Dreams

​Is there anyone here

who could let me in?

I stand as an outsider,

in the rain,

despite years of toil

to get accepted into

the various dreams I weaved,

saving some as songs,

many more as visions of grandeur,

and nightmares to bore my soul.

They let me breathe in my sleep​.​

​The deep sighs

whistle through the stale air

over my bed,

like the breeze at a beach

carrying the salt ​of my existence

to an isle afar​ where

​proud n loud neon billboards​ scream​.

Free entry for all, they say,

but caution: Kids at play!

-- Leslie Xavier