Thursday 15 February 2018

False Paradise




























mopping out all lingering chaos…
the obsessive compulsive syndrome of cleaning…

inside the kitchen mom was into new online recipes
and papa immersed in his gadget with
the TV brewing out scams and scandals and politics
and in-between climate change discussions…like
the chewing gum in my funny little brother’s mouth---
chewed, popped, hided under tongue, pulled out,
stuck between thumbs and put back to mouth, disgustingly…

mopping out all lingering chaos…
the obsessive compulsive syndrome of cleaning…

outside the window there are hundreds of windows
and one little tree at the end of the lane that
talked in whisper to endlessly running loud traffic
and pigeons perked up high on cables running wayward  
above those bakery men talking politics with the pharmacists
and the ladies at the bus stop complaining of adulteration,
of the milk and the sugar and the fruits; slow poisoning of kids

mopping out all lingering chaos…
the obsessive compulsive syndrome of cleaning…
but there is a room full of dreams at the end of the day,
the cocoon of a little heart to fall asleep for a while,
a forest of serenity, a false paradise to hold on...





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6 comments:

  1. Love the refrain & the title. A beautiful poem.

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  2. I think in such a chaos it's not obsessive compulsion to clean...
    So many turns in this poem I love... the windows outside of the window gives so many possibilities

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  3. I like this description: "TV brewing out scams and scandals and politics"

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  4. The title is intriguing.....and the words do not disappoint. Excellent use of repetition...and your descriptions are so specific in detail......oh I remember when my kids were little and they did that with their gum...but the obsessive compulsive cleaning...cleaning....cleaning. Fascinating write.

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  5. children really have so little control over the world... as adults sometimes I think we fool ourselves into thinking we can control a certain amount... I like the pulling back of the cleaning and then the outreach of senses into the bigger world...

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  6. what do bakers and pharmacists have to do with politics? i like the satirical take here, brilliant Sreeja!

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