untitled 49

after the night-beat under
falling temperatures,
Prem owns the first sun, washing cars;
soothes the air with villageways;
blushes,
seeing my friend inked in 70 years of cityways. 

untitled 48

trudging to the construction site with
children neatly packed in dust and nudity,
the lady wrapped the morning
in a hum.
digging, filling, relaying earth
part-fills a hunger,
my friend feels awaiting a delayed lunch.

untitled 48

in the temple town,
god, behind a latticed window,
can be guessed at in the darkness
of oil lamps,
glimpsed in parts.
tukkaram pujari prays against normal
disappointments,
sure of a sympathetic hearing.
spent 25 years in Surat
--- shivered through a plague,
a mass slaughter.