Poems

These early poems offer glimpses of some of the creative forces that have shaped the development of his craft. A craft that shows his ability to produce short, direct pointed pieces (such as the poems in the collections Modern Traumas and Two Clipped Wings) as well as epic length dialogues sustained over hundreds of lines (for example Darkness at Bamiyan and A Summit at Jungfraujoch).

A good example of the former is the following excerpt from the poem titled Litigious Lives–

Are we to ever get clarity?
From the entangling maze
Of asinine laws propping
The blind stagger of justice

Stumbling time barred
Across limiting precedents
Limitations of statutes
Unlimited adjournments

Deaf to inner calls of conscience
Alive to bluster of legal counsel
Insatiable for burden of proof
Obsessing over nitpicky detail

(excerpted from Litigious Lives appearing in Modern Traumas)

At the other end of the spectrum are longer epics like A Summit at Jungfraujoch, where the style, form and sweep of the poetry mirrors majesty of the mountains sharing their perspectives –

I, Vinson, having arrived from wilderness’ outpost
Offer perspective other than all pervading holy ghost
Of a pre-determined start, carefully envisioned end
After every catastrophic consequence, a Godly tend
From my vantage in Antarctic’s perennial numb
In a swirl of haphazardness seen my thoughts succumb
Challenging belief in an elaborately perfected mural
Of textured bleakness from Kamchatka to the Ural

Of chiseled features of Matterhorn, Blanc and Elbrus
Honed specimens of a skilful sculptor’s fawning fuss
Of proportionalities a supreme talent did arrange
From curvaceous Carpathians to Great Dividing Range
Of life supporting gradations next to parched sands
From nurturing Western Ghats to Ethiopian highlands
Of lofty perches lifting restive searches into the sky
From imposing Sierra Madre to enticing cliffs of Altai

(from the chapter titled The Trace of Cosmic Moorings, A Summit at Jungfraujoch)