Saturday 18 November 2017

18th November 2017


Look, what they've done with their concrete and steel:
A seawall that's endless where sea meets shore
In place of the sand beneath sole and heel;
The beaches of Butterworth are no more.

Look, what they've done with their concrete and steel:
A seawall so ugly the eyes are sore
As fat were the wallets that closed the deal;
The beaches of Butterworth are no more.

Look, what they've done with their concrete and steel:
A seawall and not the beaches of yore
Along which we ran barefooted with zeal;
The beaches of Butterworth are no more.


Saturday 29 April 2017

29th April 2017



I found you in the back lane behind two Sundays ago,
Dumped, I'm guessing, because you were a girl 
Which, unless you were in the cat breeding business,
Was bad news to a cat owner in this part of the world
Just as being born a girl was bad news in India
Although for different reasons, dowry-related, mostly.

No matter.
You were about, what, three months old?
Good.
The moment I saw you, I said to myself, this one I'm keeping for myself.
Why?
Because every cat born in this household for the last ten, nay, twenty years
Either died of something, went missing or, in the case of the boys, left home
And you represented a new hope, a fresh start,
To rebuilding the cat family I once had
And lived for,
Mostly.

Eve,
That's what your name shall be,
For just as the biblical Eve was the mother of all of mankind,
So too shall you be the mother of the new generation of cats born into this family,
By the grace of Almighty God,
Amen.

On second thoughts, make that Hurricane Eve
In accordance with the way you enjoyed dashing about the place
With the strength and energy of a little hurricane.

Monday 10 April 2017

10th April 2017


Italian Eyes,
In which all of the world's beauty
And all of its pain
Is contained,
Its beauty as reflected in the perfectly sculpted contours of your face,
Its pain as concealed within,
Piercing me with such intensity
That I am mesmerized and troubled and bewildered and wonderstruck,

All at the same time,
Such is your power, 

Such is your magic, 
Such is your magnificence,
Italian Eyes.




[photograph used with permission graciously granted by Anna Clara Passarelli]
 [copyright owner and photograph model]