Poet : Anilkumar Parat

Let’s bomb each other, shall we?

Better off that way we’d all be.

I’ll send drones into your home,

You torpedo my living room.

Don’t warn, don’t give time to scurry

To the bunkers in a hurry. 

Let’s smash everything to smithereens 

With our bazookas and submarines.

We do it anyways, day out, day in,

In our mad rat race to win,

Win at all costs, beat everyone hollow 

Damn the damage, there’s no tomorrow 

YOLO, we shout. YOLO!

This earth, this sky, 

this mountain, this stream,

Is for us to plunder, strip clean.

The animals and the birds,

the trees the fruits,

their horns and hooves,

their buds and babies,

Are all for us to hunt and eat

–to boost our big bloated egos

–to feed our flagging libidos.

In every town, every village 

We use and throw 

Our junk and garbage.

We drive the fast lane; 

No time to slow,

It’s a race to the death, you know.

The kids are busy with their video games,

Their many make-believe worlds, their memes

We’ve drugged them well enough,

They’ll never know we’re robbing them clean.

They love their burnt brownies, don’t they?

Let’s will them a scorched earth;

They’ll know a burnt sienna but never a green.

So let’s just bomb each other right away.

Let’s make it easier for all of us.

I’ll nuke your town and you nuke mine.

And let’s hide our remorse 

In the mushroom clouds.

By Anilkumar Parat 

(25-09-2024)

I Need To Reach On Time

Poet : Anilkumar Parat

Let me tell you why I

Am in abject terror of

Driving on our highways

With my seatbelt holding me

From rocking too much to the 

Harmonica and chewing gum to

The rhythm of Muddy Waters’ rasping 

Pleas: ‘Baby please don’t go

Down to New Orleans 

‘Coz I love you so!’

Let me tell you why I

Shudder at the thought that 

Only a few moments ago he was 

Grinning happily, ambling along 

The long winding road looking 

For morsels tossed out of

Car windows by lazy travelers 

Rollicking with his rambunctious buddies 

Playing tag in gay abandon 

And now he’s a messy mat on the tarmac 

That I go over with a squishy crunchy thud

In my otherwise smooth cruise 

Over the melting macadam 

Let me tell you why I 

Can’t seem to stomach the way

My car collides with butterflies 

In slow motion 

At a hundred miles an hour

My practiced hands shaking just a little 

At the moment of impact 

Knowing that my bonnet’s 

Just been splattered with

Gossamer colours once again,

That my world’s turned just a shade greyer, 

That the only one who heard it happen’s me.

Let me tell you why I 

Suffer palpitations every time 

I step on the gas and pass 

The scene of a crash in a daze 

Watching all that twisted mess 

Of flesh and metal, all that debris, 

The welt marks on the tar

The horrific cries that hang in the air 

Like echoes in a crazed mind

Those last minute panicked thoughts 

The bunch of cars that slow down 

Watching that awful thing recede 

In their rearview mirrors 

Let me tell you why I–

Aw! Never mind.

I need to stretch a bit,

Smoke a cigarette and take a leak.

I need to reach on time.

By Anilkumar Parat 

(5-11-24)