life has curled inwards.
open palms turned
to tightened fists.
coffins unnamed.
sentence unexplained.
uncut nails bayonets
neck deep in mouths
that bleed dirt. even death
isn’t enough anymore.
the sun screams
in our eyes every day
the wrath of men
abandoned by their skies-
Gods sprout up,
like the plague from the soil
so barren that even
the dead don’t care
to spit on its womb.
reason in unreason.
for unreason sells
and wins auctions
elections, defections
and swimming pools
in billion-dollar Taj
Mahals. unreason
in reason. let em
die of hunger and
of disease outside
private customised
cinema halls for
the Armani suits
with the shiny boots
atop oversized paunch
masturbating on
megalomania. let them
die hungry because
death creates jobs
in the graveyard.
the middle class
pushes its way
inside the 7 pm local.
man shoves man
in man’s face,
gropes an ass
if there’s enough
space. a movie plays
in the mobile phone.
the movie is almost about Gorr.
he killed Gods
because they couldn’t
live up to his faith.
the tv news plays
the same old song.
while a shell company
orchestrates a hostile
takeover of truth.
there is not much
information available on
the electoral bonds.
along the boulevards
of the new parliament
there is a silence
that settles in the corners.
and there’s a shadow
that perennially haunts
this stony rubbish
as it cripples through
the motions of its
punctured clocks.
the shadow that’ll be
the end of it all.
the shadow of men
denying what is
and believing
what is not.
Abhinav is an undergraduate student at Delhi University.
Featured image: Gyanvapi Mosque. Photo: Reuters