Diplomatic

At a diplomatic gathering

an ambassador’s wife

smiles sweetly

as I’m introduced as a poet

(a term I’ll always wear

like a size 14 dress

on my size 8 frame)

I smile back

embarrassed

hoping I can talk about the weather

the cricket world cup final

which we might win

or the war

which no one will

but her next question’s one of

mild surprise

“you write in English?”

and my smile turns

apologetic

for a reason that can’t find its voice

in poetry or prose

so I nod a diplomatic yes

and grab a drink from

a passing tray.

(April, 2007) - From Stitch Your Eyelids Shut

New Year 2008

In the early hours

of a new year

bursts of firecrackers

penetrated

cold December air

the smell of gunpowder

and renewed hope

rose high

and

sound couldn’t quite separate

fake fire from real

as a man lay dead

from a bullet to the chest

at a kovil in Colombo

Where he was

praying for peace.

(From Stitch your Eyelids Shut Colombo, Akna: 2010)

First book, second edition, out soon....

Meeting in South London

That morning I met you

at the underground station

was a freezing December day

but your smile was warm

and the three months

we had spent apart

melted like

the frost at my feet.

But by January it had snowed

and the new year had brought with it

new possibilities

for you

On the day I had to leave

we walked beside that

frozen lake

In your eyes I saw

that the end had already begun

Even as lengthening shadows

signal the end of a day

and falling leaves

sing of summers end

Still, there were tears in you.

so I took your hand

told you gently

“It will be a long time

before this place

and my heart

see the sun again….”

(From nothing prepares you, Colombo: Zeus, 2007; second edition forthcoming 2012, Colombo: Akna: publishers)