The mediocre world

You are meant for greatness

Your trails create myths and stories

Don't slow down
Don't off-road

When the terrain gets slippery

Your shoe spikes grow with it

When slithering leeches get too close

You will know them by their stains

When your falls push you down the valleys

Remember who you are

Your leaps take over the mountains

Light up the trails and keep walking

Soar above

Keep your wings light
Don't load it with steel hulls
Don't bother painting it to match the rainbow
Who cares if it's polished enough to reflect the skyline
Soar above
Rustic, Unadorned, Unfettered
Don't put in work to deserve the skies
You can't
And, you don't have to
Let go
Risk the fall
Soar above

Dance to the music of your heart strings
There is no formula, no framework, no sprint plan
No perfect set of wings to compare yourself with
The wind doesn't hold pageants
My perfectly flawed girl, soar above
Stop running away when it rains
Trust your wings
And soar above the Clouds

-Sajithra

Grief

I choose to be your friend,
for it is in the deepest of grief that you find the secret of joy.

I choose to make you my muse,
for a memory of you is all it takes to touch God.

I choose to hold your hands,
for there is no difference between the most intense pain and pleasure. The weightessness bubbling at the edge of both.

I choose you as my teacher,
for it is destruction that makes things anew.

Grief and I,
We are old friends
And, we always meet with our companion
Joy.
This Trinity is yours too
But only if you learn to choose.

The Crowd

There is an invisible spark in every crowd
Powerful enough to create a new life
It takes the shape of an animal
And, it keeps the mortals caged inside

Sometimes, it is a Lion
The generous spirit that respects even its kill
enough to carefully cover the leftovers with twigs
An offering, a gift,
left behind for the hungry beasts

Sometimes, it is a sheep
They bleat about the generous master
And, his gift - new shearing scissors

Sometimes, it is a squirrel
Well, all it does is squirreling
No one knows what they want
And, they don't care to find out
where they want to go

Sometimes it can be a hyena
And, everyone becomes no one
No one lynched him
No one raped the girl
No one bullied him to suicide

Let's teach our children
The secret of the crowd
That will help them to live without masks
Masters of their fate and slaves to none

Children, if you are in a crowd
Be the ones who add more light
Speak out even when it seems to matter little
Stand up and raise your voice
Don't whistle at her, this is not what we do
Don't push him down, this is not us
Words spoken in an elementary school
could change the story of everyone
So, be happy on your own
But, if needed in a crowd
Be ready to be its soul

-Sajithra

Surrender

I drink from this cup of pain
Because someone has to
I bear my Cross
Because someone has to

I fold my rags in a mahogany wardrobe
Right next to my garb of splendor
I pour the bitter myrrh in my finest Crystal
And, I will say cheers to you when you drink your Cognac

Surrender to accept what doesn't change
Surrender to take away its power to break you
Surrender to remember who you are
Surrender, because you will rise from the ashes
-Sajithra

Enlightenment

There is compassion in destruction
The flyaway ashes reveal an ancient fire
The mirror that shows my ugly parts
Becomes my guardian angel.

Not long ago, staying high on bliss was home
I found darkness a trace of sunlight, just painted black
Now, crystalized scales fall off my eyes
I wake up and panic in the abyss
Should the choices remain the same?
Well, what's your poison?, the voice asks
A pleasing lie
Or an ugly truth
I ask for neither
The truth was always there
And, the lie was my set of blinkers
Break those horse tacks
But give me a new set of eyes

I could go back to sleep
Color nightmares into my personal rainbow.
Make demons my dream-catchers
And, when a skeleton lurks in the darkness
Shout in jest 'Happy Halloween to you'.

I could remain wide awake
Burn hot in the embers of truth
Hedge my bets
Sharpen the spears
Wage my battles from an unstable, bleeding, dark crevice.

Or
I could watch the battle but know it's futile
Forgive myself and strip off the straitjacket
Lift myself up from the crevice to the Summit of the mountain
Oh, I will break my spear into the staff of Moses
Part these Oceans into two
And reach the promised land


What is enlightenment?
Recognizing the illusion of it all
To see a rose, not the thousand thorns
Seeing the psychedelic notion of reality that changes like a chameleon on steroids
Seeing all that from a distance, with a new set of eyes
Finally, offering my totem pole as homage to this never ending journey
For the journey is within
And, so is the promised land

-Sajithra

Modified India - In the name of Cow

Aug'17- 2 Muslim men lynched for transporting cattle 

24 Muslims lynched, 124 attacked
In Hindutva we trust, proclaim their tweets
Protesters murdered, Farmers shot
Just another hill of discarded meat

Media is dead
Bought or bled
They gouged their eyes out
but gave them a new mouth
Slipped on with no teeth and they all look the same
Reasons aplenty when the weak leads
Roars are pitch-corrected to friendly bleats

500 people died in flood, we cry
The sin against the Cow, they say
Rupee at an all time low
They laugh
Congress in 1947 caused the fall

We close our windows
Keep blood out the doors
It stinks still
The flies buzz around

They walk with sickles in hand
Pied Pipers lay claim to our land
Become a zombie or pretend to be one
Don't talk, don't see, don't feel

And, yet
Heroes rise
To pay the price
With Love
With Life

They fall with a smile
They are crushed into divine light
We feel
We see
Crimson clouds everywhere!
It thunders
It rains


The windows break
Illusions melt
Sound of freedom reverberates
Another day, Another dawn
Here for Freedom, Here for us!

-Sajithra

The Hu and the Sun

The violent counter part of this poem is here
The Sufi's notion of Love is seeing God as the beloved. More often than not, God is the lover in Rumi's poems.

The earth kissed her feet

Warm, Tender, Soft

She slipped
Slid into the belly of a wet, paddy field

Its scent on her back
Coarse sand on her neck

She took a breath
Hu!

The sun touched her brows

Draping its rays as a veil
It dripped down
Like a runnel of desire
A thousand caresses
Sieving through her breasts

Her tummy squeezed out a breath

Hu!

She stretched out her hands
Her fingers found the palm of wind
It tip toed around her body
And touched her tongue
Slowly at first and then like a storm
A blaze of sweet trickle pressed her mouth
Her throat felt a ball of fire
That stretched her body out
Like a bow

A breath sneaked in
Hu!

She saw the stars
She saw Time
The Universe
She saw Love itself
A song without words
And, it covered her
With a glimpse of an ancient memory
She tried to move back
It pulled her in
Tighter, Stronger, Harder
She became pleasure
She became Love

Breathless!

She rose
She stayed
Hu!
-Sajithra

Fire and Water

Life

Soaked in fire
slides into calm waters

It sizzles
Ripples out
And, fills the void with a thick, grey fog

Fire and Water
Laughter and Tears
Yin and Yang
Light and Darkness

Life
Caught between both
Singed and ravaged
Its heart thrashed open
And, then built back again
Never to yield to flames
Not there to quench its thirst

Life

Keep flowing
Keep pacing
Keep learning
Keep destroying

When the Fire flows quiet

And the Water becomes Fire
You will know
You will be home

-Sajithra

Melting standards

Nets  aimed  at  shooting  stars,

Heart  lusting  its  glitter  and  spark,
Naive  for  Greatness,  Glory,  and  Fame,

Minions  march  to  make  a  name;

Barbaric  hunters  with  a  pile  of  skulls,

Artists  flaunting  mastered  skills,

Emperors,  Cardinals  from  different  times

Modern  entrepreneurs  hoarding  gains;

The  world  looks  up  in  need  of  a  purpose,

Craving  a  promise  of  dreams  in  surplus;

Like  the  moon  drunk  on  the  light it  borrows,

Aspires  to  be  the  sun  every  night  and  morrows;

The  play  of  chance,  the  hand  of  times

Distract  our  eyes  from  what  it  hides;

Hunter  in  an  Industrial  Age

Writer  facing  the  Dinosaur's  rage

Flip  the  centuries,  the  Heroes  fall,

Yet  the  world  is  snared  by  illusion's  trawl;

-Sajithra

Melting Standards

Nets aimed at shooting stars

Heart lusting its glitter and spark

Naïve for Greatness, Glory and Fame

Minions march to make a name

Barbaric hunters with a pile of skulls
Artists flaunting mastered skills

Emperors, Cardinals from different times

Modern entrepreneurs hoarding gains

The world looks up in need of a purpose
Craving a promise of dreams in surplus
Like the moon drunk on light it borrows

Aspires to be the sun every night and morrows

To read more https://www.amazon.com.au/Trees-dirty-seeds-SAJITHRA-K-ebook/dp/B01BF6VL4G

FGM

I was 16 when I read the story of Waris Dirie in Readers Digest. <You can read the story of Waris here > I almost threw up after reading about Female Genital Mutilation. It affected me so much that I started talking about it. This catapulted the aversion that I always had for any sort of inequality. I started talking about the atrocities against women caused by the patriarchal mind set. Not exactly an appropriate topic in a conservative society where life revolved around a church in the village. The prejudices that I saw around me looked trivial in comparison. But I couldn't accept the soft patriarchy of the protestant church as a compromise where women are considered equals in the society, encouraged to work, even ordained as priests in the church but would have to submit to the headship of a man at home. I was never a rude child but I could not fit myself into a role dictated by culture. I was weary of multiple masks. I wanted to be the same person whether I was at church, home, village, school or the nearby town. Once a teacher told me 'There is so much fire in you. But don't get burned' after reading my poems. I am not considered a rebel any more because things that mattered so much to people in my home town look trivial now - even to them . That phase did help me to move out of my comfort zone, explore a world outside and make my own choices.

I wrote this poem about FGM last Novemeber as a tribute to that intense emotion I felt many years back while reading the story of Waris.....

Blood  coils  around  the  desert  plant
Like  a  serpent  ready  for  its  prey;

Dripping  through  the  green  leaves,
It  glistens  with  a  shameless  sheen;
Darkness  lunges  with  lust
And  licks  up  the  crimson  stains;

The  stains  slide  into  its  belly,
Deep,  cold  and  hungry;
Crevices  laced  with  tales  of  butchered  Innocence,
The  chapters  of  pain  entwine,
It  could  be  anyone  and  hence  it  was  everyone;

There  is  a  little  girl  lying  under  the  bushes,
Waiting  for  her  moment  to  come
Someone  said  that  this  would  mark  her  ‘the  woman’,
For  a  Prince  who  waits  in  a  distant  land

She  saw  a  stone  glinting  in  the  afternoon  sun
And  the  next  instant  it  sliced  her  nakedness;
She  bit  on  a  root,  her  eyes  slowly  turning  red
Heart beating  with  the  familiar  phrase
‘A  woman’s  sound  should  never  be  heard’;

Another  savage  blow  and  her  petals  were  ripped
Punctured,  squashed,  and  stitched
Flesh  and  blood  mired  with  sand

Mocking  that  dry  desert  in  a  wet  swamp
She  laid  there  waiting  for  the  darkness  to  come
‘When  the  sun  shines  back  I  will  be  a  woman’;

Blood  rushing  to  her  head,
Shivering  like  a  fish  on  land,
She  laid  there  bidding  her  time

http://www.amazon.com/Trees-dirty-seeds-SAJITHRA-K-ebook/dp/B01BF6VL4G

To know about FGM: Wikipedia: 

Freedom

The marshy fields stretch in front me

Inviting me with that sweet smell of earth

The evening breeze brings a lone feather

Twisting and turning in the wind

Making shapes that ought to be the new language beyond sound


My first step surprises me

The moist clay encasing me knee deep

Freedom beckons but commitments hold me back

I take in everything and close my eyes

Letting it sink in and fill me with its promises



I shut the door and return

Immersing myself in the everyday humdrum

No regrets, No remorse

The door is within me, keeping safe my ‘freedom’ behind its bars

The paradox of life is Freedom within bounds and captivity out of bounds

The struggle

Struggle

Something pushes me down; the warm earth spits venom on me

A noose tightens around my neck,  evil flashes its eyes

A deep gnash starts from my feet

My body cracks all over,

I fall apart

Like a song, each fissure forming a musical note;

I drink from the muddy puddle of the unspoken

And learn to let the pain pass through,

Death bells ring all over, announcing the forbidden union

The conquered becomes the bride;

Black Blood tangles my hair into million knots

Crowning me for the awaiting eons,

The hatred is palpable

Evoking a murderous rage

A long forgotten belief breaks the crown

And I shout

I CAN CHOOSE;

My sound waves dig the sun, burrowing the mountains

It rises and draws close

The lie is strong but truth is stronger,

The golden  blaze burns the noose;

Something pulls me up and I let go

A cool breeze brushes past and untangles my hair,

Fragrant oil heals my wounds;

The dirt and darkness are scraped off,

I rise higher and higher

My feet wading through the rainbows

I emerge like a tree from a dirty seed

With a dance, each step getting me closer to the light.

Kite in the rain

My kite flies far
Tossed and turned by wind
The walls scrape my kite
I let go
Go!
I am ready to lose you

I drift
Cut across the acrid blotches of wind
I let  go some more
Go!
I am not in control
And that strangely feels right

It rains
The drenched Kite gets heavier
I let it go
Go!
I run behind
And scoop the soft twine left behind

Life is like a kite
Dancing in the sky
Make sure you get to play
Before the thunder
Before it rains

Stillness

The tentacles of stillness wrap me tight

It grows around me like a cocoon

My heart beats faster with painful efforts to look out

Promises to be kept, deadlines to scale and agendas galore calling out to me.

I slid my hand around those walls

And learned to enjoy the sweet taste of stillness

Oh why do I even think that I make things happen?

When I can’t even take my next breath if chance had a different plan

Everything blurs out to oblivion

And I try to mend myself in the warmth of stillness.

Like a caterpillar we scurry around

With thoughts on walls scaled and obstacles crossed

But it is this moment of waiting and knowing

That brings out the colors

It is this moment of stillness and humility

That brings out the wings.

Caught the whisper

A  whisper  rises
From the land of the Old
I  drown  it  in  the  sound  of  TV,
The  traffic 
And  the  everyday  humdrum;

A  moment  of  solitude  caught the  whisper
Words from  my forgotten version

I  had become a  collection  of  memories,
A  stale reminder  of  my  past
The  infant,  the  child,  the  teen,  and  the  woman  I  am  today.
But before  I  was  born,  I  was limitless
 A design,  purpose,  pure  unsurpassed  love


I  hold  its  elapsed  reminders
Locked  in  a  box,  tucked  away  into  obscurity;
But  it  whispers,  it  hums  and  tries  to  remind  me
Of  who I  am  and  who  I  could  be.

Listen  to  the  whisper  within
It  will  tell  you  your  purpose  of  life
And  if  that  goes  beyond  your perceived self  and  your  life  time
You  will  know
You  have  caught  that  whisper

26/11 Flowers bloomed in blood

(Dedicated to the Heroes who sacrificed their lives to save others)

The moment tied you all together

Fulfilling a purpose of eternity

As a garland woven with majestic flowers

You will forever be remembered in history

I am annoyed when I hear sympathies

Sad they say, a young life gone waste

Sad they say, Families left behind

You are to be celebrated, cherished

And envied!

Many drift through life, living chapters off somebody's tale

Imposters - devoured by the choices of everyone else
Like dust - consumed, tossed and turned by the wind
Formless, aimless, bonded and carried to their graves

But you made a choice, you made your story

You are not lost or forgotten

May your mighty souls rest in peace

You came to the earth for this very purpose

A mission accomplished, go rest in the bosom of God

As a garland of majestic flowers

You have reached where you always belonged

When I wake up After Death

(what happens when memories cease?are memories the only connection.will I recognize you on the other side.Does that really matter when we all are one.)

Everyday I wake up from my sleep
And walk on the lane called Life
There I recognize footprints
A manual of who Iam
And the past that's not yet lost

Knowing these memories are the connection
With this world,with my loved ones,
With all that I have ever known
I start walking

I walk leaving footprints
To Spot the oasis to get back
and the valleys to avoid

Iam walking closer to that day
I may wake up to find everything erased
Then will I walk without leaving footprints
And never fall asleep again .

Spaces between my words

Boundaries can hold till you are smaller
Outgrow the boundaries

Break free,Space is endless

Don’t let my words confine you
Don't let your words judge me
Listen to the spaces between my words
In silence let us truly talk