Friday, June 19, 2020

Topmost
Vishnupriya 

I saw  the crazy ant lift and pack
the humongous peanut on its back.
It could carry twenty times its slim weight
without a complaint for the loaded freight.
But this was way heavier than it thought
had a long battle to win having  fought.

It wasn’t the climbing so much
But holding on for a firm clutch.
Slipping, dropping, picking wasn’t fun
But once in the race you gotta run.
Till you climb the hilltop and plant your flag
While others at the bottom watch and lag.

The air’s thin at the top
Alone you see the drop.
Proud, happy whatever
None to share your fever.
That’s the reward or price
you’ve cast the fateful dice.

All you do is breathe thin
Far from the madding din.
Your are too high n’ further gone
Only there as destiny’s pawn
That we’ll  drool and  look up to
Also greet with rave rant boo.

You’ve got to stand firm
And complete your term.
Keep away from the brainfog
You’re no more the underdog.
It’s always lonely at the top, no space
For the lesser to befriend, win your race.




Friday, June 12, 2020

The Shell
Vishnupriya 

I listened to the shell 
the surf left a whisper in,
I’d heard it when the spring fronds
by the lake kissed each other
And baby turtle reclaimed the rustling green
under the Dogwood tree for its bassinet.
Then the beach sands made me 
a bed to soak in the love
the ocean was sending me
with its open arms.
I longed to get lost and taste
the briny wind on my face like a surfer
Not hear my echoes but new ones around 
Moving further and further away.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020


As everyone grieves for George Floyd in Houston, Texas, I pray for healing everywhere so his soul and that of the others may rest in peace and the world is redeemed. This is my prayer:



Not an Option
Vishnupriya


Fear is not an option because I still breathe.

Silence is not an option because I’m still human.

Losing it is not an option because I’m still fighting.

Love is an option because I’m part of Him.

Forgiveness after justice’s is done is the other
 because it will heal the wound.

Born free, we need to live free of bondage
of hate and injustice, in mercy merge.

Hallelujah!!

Monday, June 8, 2020

Like your breath
Vishnupriya 

Pain is like your breath
as long as you have it
gossamer thin, or a heavy knot.

It is the stench of rot
you push away
when you want to breathe free.

But it is also the love
knowing all that you lost 
without meaning to, a gasp.

And going on walking
when you can’t see the fine line
between reaching and trudging.

You can’t wish it away
It lifts when it wants to.

Colorless
Vishnupriya 


No matter whose-
Dreams have no hue, tears are color free,
Breath’s a-color, pain’s colorless,
Yet some only come colored for others
Seen through a prism of color
Running an unequal race through life.


Why does color lurk around us
Choking our breath and voices
so we can’t be heard or seen,
when we were born to breathe?
And all the killings looked upon
As a collage of numbers, not names
because the dead were once human?
Why are most protests labeled 
riots toppling passive status quo,
And marchers body slammed, teargassed,
pepper sprayed when they’re to be revered?
Why passive bystanders unlistening in
'battlespaces' don’t get prophylactic from a disease
festering for centuries ready to erupt
now that it can’t hold anymore?
Why is justice denied because
life’s strangled, peace put on choke hold,
The clock hands have much to unroll?


Not wanting more hate to unfold,
And systems to implode, push to
deconstruct  the broken, the shattered, 
Rebuild outside the margin of color,
So we can all breathe like siblings
In the land of the brave, not depraved.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Color coded
Vishnupriya

Color is potent, decisive, leading
to a point of no return.
Just an angry limb pressing on another,
A virus more lethal than Covid
going beyond the here and now,
decades or centuries, eons maybe,
And George Floyd is gone forever,
like the candle we snuff out
every birthday making a wish.
Did  George wish last birthday
to live beyond color? Or despite it?
But wishes come color coded
in the land of the free.
How long before a vaccine, a fix for hate,
anger, brute force of the worst degree?





Tuesday, May 26, 2020


Braids


I braid all my stories of
yesterday and today every night
for a sneak peek tomorrow, a dry run
before putting it out there for those who care..

I heard it knock on the door
Saw it  upclose strong resolute
But I gave it the slip, kept the door shut
And took the other road to the open ground.

I heard its rasping whisper in my ears
I plugged them with earbuds and
sang my own song so loud
it drowned the other voice.

I smelt the rot spread from
one to the other in the blink of an eye
And tasted the fallout of desperation
Yet chose my saner solitude instead.

I could sense its clammy palms
cold with sweat outstretched
I clung to my breath coming fast
and counted my blessings one by one.

The yester tales visit me
But I  look out the window where
all the blue green pink and white weave
warm blankets to snuggle in and cozy up.

Today’s not been easy but
I mean to make it  such
Walking loaded slows you down
But I mean to travel light.



Topmost Vishnupriya  I saw  the crazy ant lift and pack the humongous peanut on its back. It could carry twenty times its slim we...