Assert the Truth by Khurshid Alam

Assert the Truth by Khurshid Alam

Should you come to meet me
And ask: how I am?
I’m fine. But to tell it
In answer is sweeter than sweet.

Should you come to greet me
And welcome: how sure I am?
I am full of confidence
But to assert it in answer.
Is to be more confident.

Should you but come to me
And propose: if I love you?
I do, should you but ask!
For, to accept is more
Beautiful than I do love you.

---
For Shez
---

Note: Published with Daily Love, 5/20/2010.

Corruption by Khurshid Alam

Corruption by Khurshid Alam

The sprawling CWG’s stadium unfolded
A large spectrum of corruption running into megabucks
The CWG stadium—
The doom of festivity, the doom of fidelity
   
2G spectrum stood towering even higher
That echoed clangour of corruption even louder.
   
Heaps of corruption—
Corruption after corruption.
United people to roar against corruption
All seem to support the campaigns that
some Gandhians initiated.
I too added my voice against.
   
I was given the responsibility to enlist some corruptions
And thus I began:
   
At the corner of a village I saw
Flames leaping from a hearth in front of
A dim-lit hut, tilted towards a side
A crumbling roof atop, ready to fall anytime
Some ladies from neighbouring area came
Singing to the hut, to the fire and
Lit their own cow-dung cakes from the hearth
And they saved many a matchstick.
   
Many people in the country, in the slums of the cities
Wake up early and relieve themselves in the open
With their mouth hanging down, eyes to the earth
Once free they cover their dirt under the soil mysteriously
They create an unhygienic environment and then cry
The government is not doing anything for their health
   
People rush to the public buses and trains
As soon as they reach to the stops
To loot the seats and bunk tickets
The ticket-checkers wish the larger number of people
Bunk tickets the better. They earn wealth in the run.
   
Police run after the law breakers—
Some bikes, cars, and vehicles
Have no PUC, no helmets, no license
The police threaten to make challan and thereby
Fix a deal at a less price than the fine.
The bribe has saved many a law breaker.
   
Players of more age are declared underage
By the cricket team, by college teachers
And they bring a cup for their correct age
The test for age was fixed for a price.
   
Parents help their wards in copying at exams
To ensure high marks. If yet not met, they
Manage a caste certificate to help them pass
Through high cut-offs in the college selection processes
The parents are happy their children are studying
Philosophy, history, science, engineering, medicine
Who will one day become great philosophers
Historians, scientists, engineers and doctors.
   
Police have to pay to seek posting at their chosen
Places where they can earn name, fame, and money
They implement laws to ensure security to the people
   
Soon I found my list was full but the counting yet incomplete
I was tired and began to yawn. Suddenly I planned
I can create fake names and cases of corruption
Who is coming to look whether I did my job
Honestly!
I was lamenting why I took the headache to make the listing
To be tabled the next day. If I was the only fool left
To think for the country.
I took away the glasses from my nose, and folded the list
And crawled into the cosy duvets.
Why should I disturb my sleep
All goes to hell, I said to myself
And switched off the night bulb.

Note: First published with Mainstream September 3, 2011.

Contemporary Literary Review: India (CLRI) July 2011 Issue is Out Now

Dear Readers!

We are glad to share the news that Contemporary  Literary Review: India (CLRI) July 2011 Issue is live now.  CLRI July 2011 Issue brings the finest pieces from the writers such as:

April Avon

Christian Ward

Ron Koppelberger

Sonnet Mondal

Tahera Manan

Valentina Cano

Vinita Agrawal

Zachary Kluckman

Please visit, buy, read, and enjoy at:

Contemporary Literary Review: India (CLRI) Issue 2010

Dear Readers!

We are glad to share the Contemporary  Literary Review: India (CLRI) Issue 2010 is live now. Please visit, buy, read, and enjoy at:

Poems on Nature Theme published with Muse India

Oh Clouds

Oh clouds, gather over my roof
someday and rain as much as you like
I’ll drench to my content
and wear new attires.

Oh sun, pray you shine
on my back and warm me
to the bone. I’ll grow
myself strong and wear a coat.

Oh sparrow, come and sit on
my window and chirp. I’ll listen
to the music in calm ambience
and enjoy unending nature’s echo.

Oh golden flowers, bloom
in my garden in youth
and cool the lawn. I’ll smell
and embrace your faith.

Why Drink from the Oasis

Why drink from the oasis?
A great sea is lying beneath–
remove the sheet of sands and peep.

The only tree stands straight
failing with rugged barks
and empty branches
Root a new plant before
you celebrate its death.

A man in solitude
can speak to himself; poorly
Break the soliloquy and meet
the people. They will listen!
Response makes you meaningful.

Begin a New Day

At dawn
The sunflower smiles to the sun
Begin a day—
better than yesterday

The breeze is laden with the smell of soil
the bursting of new flowers, and the cool dews.

The silence is filled with the birds’ song
They head to the east for the early breakfast
heeding to the sun’s call and the flowers’ welcome

The white and red rose petals make a hue
in the garden—the beautiful linen brings joys anew.

Mother Nature

She must be motherly

We’re

Born

Cradled

And

We breathe

Grow

Find repose.

She yields us

Food

Shelter

A harmony to cherish.

She must be a temple.

Note: These poems are on nature theme brought out by Muse India in issue 32, July-August, 2010.

Rescue Against Fire is published with the Quatrain City

Rescue Against Fire is published with the Quatrain City.



Rescue Against Fire
by Khurshid Alam


In the vast blue umbrella, two holes of
fire poke threatening me to warm ‘gainst
the cold water. Luckily a shelter
I have at the other end of the hill.

Note: This is an ekphrastic poem that was declared winner in the Quatrian City contest #9.

New Poems 'Mirror Filled with Guilt', 'The Root', 'Voyeurism', 'Plagiarism' published

Four of my new poems Mirror Filled with Guilt, The Root, Voyeurism, Plagiarism are published with ken* again in Vol. 11, No. 2, Summer 2010.



Mirror Filled With Guilt

At the mirror filled with guilt
Even the rubbish sells
I barked. Soon I recollected my facial arch
And looked around to ensure no one
Saw me in the deed
And broke the mirror into pieces.


The Root

Let me reset all the images
irregular
The stones turn
deaf
if you carve them out of
Father—
the mountain is
bleeding
in silence!

People have carved out
many images
and have taken possession of
the forms
among themselves
The forms have lost
the content —
no grass grows on
stone images.

Yet they worship and grow
old
to forget the holy Father
and go mad
with the child images.


Voyeurism

Creeping on my chest
the ant touched my neck
Move away from here now
I'm conjugating, I screamed.

In the dusk of the room
her body made a posture
I tried to read it in vain
peeping through the windowsill.

She gasped with strong breath
the wind blew out of the window
where I stood waiting for a glimpse
she tossed in the bed for life.

I dress in the dark for fear
She may lick her lips
to see me bare in the ribs
and kill me in the daylight.


Plagiarism

It is easy to write:
easy to plagiarize
copy the things:
it’s yours
but think twice
before you plagiarize
your run-of-the-mill art
may get derail
of the destination and
you may land in some corner
where mosquitoes will eat you up
till you cry it hard and vomit:
apologies, money and all!

Note: To read these poems, visit ken* again.