am i burning, or...

 

Shivoham in watercolors 


am i burning
or is it the world 
churning? breaths
lost at the crossway
of the room still
cry out for love
taste of the
uncreated lingers
in the alleyway
words slice the 
air, silence slashes it.
am I burning on
a pyre of scrawny fantasies
or is it the world churning?

women in yellow 
and gold make
kolams with rice 
powder, flowers
garland their hair:
stains of fragrance
bury the soughing 
of a broken heart.
am i burning
in the coolness of
the koël's two-note song
or is it the world churning?

the night reeling,
summer stillness,
the eighth moon
held in the month of Chaitra... 
swirls of van gogh
suffocate vision
blindfold dreams
am I burning 
in the oppressive 
rhythm of the clocking hour
or is it the world churning?


is it the world churning 
or is it me, burning?


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