Monday, March 24, 2014

Geek Sublime [ghazal]


They mention you've lately published Geek Sublime?
so long as it isn't penned in Greek     sublime


if function derives from form  form's sourced in grace
soul's swan gobbles worms alive    by beak sublime


what's under the veil?   brain-scrambling conceits
O rasik!  hey kavi!      take a peek sublime

when Hanuman jumped to Lanka  in one bound
he glimpsed in the grove  a fabled cheek sublime

they argued out Krishna's theft of butter    so
was Mohan a glutton?   or a sneak sublime?

with smackers long-sealed  silence festers suspense
the sequel would be  (if he should speak)  sublime

in cyber-epochs   the poets morph to sculptors
to typo is human   but to tweak  sublime

in irony's circus    things turn topsy-turvy
the beauty is gruesome    & the freak sublime

the sarangi's cry derived from one's own guts is
regardless if carved from tum or teak    sublime

when Gautam beneath a tree gave wordless teaching
the lotus he raised      showed the antique sublime

where feelings  in coded gestures  are perfected
her relish is bracing     & her pique  sublime

should Amazon drop your tome by drone we'd deem this
(in span of an hour & not a week) sublime

Earth's heirs are i.d.'d by trait   in lieu of surname
Yeshu augured     blessèd are the meek sublime

does loving derive from distance more than nearness?
what's found is banal    but what we seek  sublime

I'll grant Raphael's no Sanskritist   but dig this!
plainchanting the T.O.C. of Geek Sublime


=================

for Vikram Chandra



"Of why and what   don't ask!"   (Hafez)


O Beloved you said     of our state   don't ask!
be a stranger!      & how we relate   don't ask!

Yet your grace is abundant     & life's benign
our misdeeds don't recall!     how we rate   don't ask!

If you hanker the key of love's pain    to grasp
ask the wick about flame!    the wind-spate  don't ask

It's Rose-season Hafez!   wisdom's last year's news
Seek the gold of now!     of why & what   don't ask!

 

Friday, March 21, 2014

"Fluttering"
English Shi with borrowed 1st line


Spring involves a lot of fluttering
poetry bears a modicum of typos
where there's bread there'll oftentimes be buttering
half the time we're hypers   half we're hypos!
weal & woe   while tiresome   prove requisite
for long phases of the dream-drenched tale
if your soul articulates  the heck with it!
is that when they lift the mystic veil?



================================

poem's initial line borrowed from Rachel Dacus (via a Facebook status update)

"A journey" [rubai]



A tremor of love when the heart breaks    is my poem
a glimmer of gold that the dawn makes    is my poem
is poetry two-thirds shadow    & one-third dream?
a journey the wakening soul takes    is my poem


Sunday, March 16, 2014

"Where Google ends there God begins" [villanelle]

 
Where Google ends   there God begins
how much remains beyond our ken!
the wolf has fur   the fish has fins

each game requires losses & wins
each prayer winds toward a terse Amen!
where Google ends   there God begins

forget your catalog of sins
behold creation's wisdom when
the wolf has fur   the fish has fins

the alley shows a dozen pins
perhaps a strike's akin to Zen?
where Google ends   there God begins

the earth proverbially spins
hosting Avataras one through ten
the wolf has fur   the fish has fins

for ghazals like Jelaluddin's
can Anglo ears arouse a yen?
where Google ends   there God begins
the wolf has fur   the fish has fins

 

Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Gadgeted Society [a sonnet]


"Best tea online" reads an ad
yet one cannot drink cyber-tea!
for drinking or peeing we've had
to keep some physicality

computers & Saraswati!
how deep runs the link 'twixt the twain?
mankind's on an electric spree
that principally boggles the brain

at five in the morn I hear sirens
aha! there's a non-cyber sphere!
for wrinkles some still may use irons
for drinking some yet may use beer
 

plugged in & online but we're who?
we haven't computed a clue!

Friday, March 7, 2014

Fu's Palace   [English shi]


These days I pass Fu's Palace each morning   on my drive to work
Fu's Palace where my father would meet with his chorus   in years gone by

to drive through LA is to drive through the past   it's a kind of perk
but if past isn't past   is our calling it "past"   a kind of lie?

such thoughts engage this addled brain   on the drive today
if the meaning is seemingly locked away   who holds the key?

what if even the future is already past!   as some might say?
the past is past   & the present is past!   or soon will be



=====
Note:
Fu's Palace is the name of a Chinese restaurant located on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles.