The bug

The bug amid the experiment   am I  
as snug as a bug in a rug   (the saying goes)  
what need to breathe   a nigh-predestined sigh?  
like any surrendering bug   I twirl my toes  
& think things!   each conjecture (might I suppose?)  
marks a pawn's stroll   on a chessboard few descry  
planets swirl   a hidden stream (like clockwork) flows  
the bug amid the experiment   am I

[Poem occasioned by encountering an] Owl box

Movie starlets in a prior existence?
if such trans-species reality TV
continues beyond this owl-box instance
could a spy-cam nab Paramatma's wide sea?


======

inspired by Molly and Babies Color Camera

Not a sparrow falls

"I believe it! although it's insanity"
quoth a sparrow (who fell by the will of God)
how might such things go for humanity?
who may oft expel "by the will of God"
as an adage (held amid breath & thought
as its meanings meld luminous & fraught)
fraught with paradox (showing urbanity?)
"I believe it although it's insanity"

elegy for a Chennai wasp

r.i.p. oh such a mad wasp
did Sharanya drive you crazy?
no one judges you a bad wasp
we've no cause to call you lazy
but your grip was worse than hazy!
on your tomb: "here lies one sad wasp
thought a damsel was a daisy
ergo swatted-by-her-dad wasp"

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


for Sharanya Manivannan, memorializing her experience (as relayed initially in a Facebook status message).

Lately I seem more inclined to post witty ditties here, than "serious poetry". :-)

Conversation with a Fish

The fish was held aloft by the curl of smoke
the lady looked at the creature eye-to-eye
quoth lady "life at times seems quite the joke"
"it's a dreamy sea of tears" did the fish reply

The fish was held aloft as the ash grew long
ash dangling from the lady's fine cigar
quoth lady "life at times seems a lucid song"
"like a fish that needs" (quoth fish) "a racing car"

The fish was held aloft -- who can tell me why?
did it have a peculiar secret to express?
"the world's a spoof" quoth fish with sober eye
quoth lady "life is a no in search of yes"


(an impromptu for Nitoo Das)

Occasioned by a photograph (posted on Facebook)