Archive | 9:50 pm

The Beauty of the Beast

19 Aug

The City, she’s a mean beast.

Breathing prickly, sweaty beads down the commuter’s neck,

nudging him off trains and cackling when he flounders,

one foot on, the other in mid-air,

dancing in limbo

between metal and eternity.

…
The City, she’s a mean beast.

To the old man walking into the traffic’s roar,

she swerves around him, honking, screeching,

glaring her bloodshot sleeplessness

into his moist, ancient eyes

dreaming of calmer days

when wheels and horns meant the annual dussehra fair.

…
The City, she’s a mean beast.

Eating up spaces alive,

devouring, gorging, sucking playgrounds and the sea

wings, leaves and humanity

into her bottomless pit,

her mouth ever-widening, her tongue anticipating,

her rumbles deafening the uneasy calm.

…
The City, she’s a mean beast.

Distorting definitions of home,

of space, time and relationships,

and dimensions unknown,

knowing we will come to her,

knowing we shall obey,

chortling in unmasked delight

at our masochistic, self-flagellating,

tear-stained, emotion-choked,

submissive, obsequious,

enslaved,

emaciated

love.