SANTOSH BAKAYA

 

A Drumming

 

Why do I hear a drumming in my ears?

 

Bedraggled folks shuffling past my window, crest fallen.

They always do. They always do.

So what is new?

 

Someone sneering behind my back?

 They always do. They always do. 

Nothing new.

 

The pallid sun

nudges its way through the intrusive clouds.

 It always does. It always does.

.

Loud- louder goes the dissidence

of the ominous looking clouds.

The Met Department has predicted rains.

But the rains never come.

But I still hear a drumming in my ears.

Can you hear it too?

The dissidence has been curbed,

but the drumming is insistent.

Can you hear it too?

Can you?

 

The Chaffinch’s Dance

 

An old man stumbles along, grocery bag in hand.

Has he again lost his way?

Two sparrows come swooping down

on a bird perch.

The man lurches forward, unsteady on his feet.

He looks around, lost. Confused.

 But the sight of the birds puts a spring in his walk.

 He knows the birds. They know him too. 

He is now steady on his feet.

 A chaffinch merrily dances on a wheelbarrow in a lawn.

The rhythm and the throb of life goes on,

as the old man walks towards his home,

and confidently rings the bell.

 

The chaffinch’s dance becomes more vigorous.

The man keeps the bag on the patio,

whirls his neck and smiles at the chaffinch.

The chaffinch seems to have gone berserk with delight.

Happy that the man has emerged

victorious in one more fight- definitely not his last.

Spring has arrived!

 

The Creaking Chaos

 

What are these strange voices,

and stranger scenes that dutifully visit me at night?

Night after night.

Are the trees creaking in the wilderness?

Is it the wind ruffling the leaves,

making them break into a jig?

 

Is that a flight of doves descending,

or high heels clicking in the dark?

Is that a footfall, or just the clock ticking?

Or my imagination playing tricks?

 

Jackals howling?

Predators prowling?

Giants growling?

I fight with my secret exasperation.

Alas, my hyperactive imagination!

 

But, then I clearly see a heartless, obese man

laboriously pulling his belt three holes tighter,

stretching out his pudgy hand for another

helping of street food, cruelly kicking

 the mongrel whelping under the food cart.

Hurling the choicest expletives at the hungry dog,

the heartless, obese man continues to hog on.

 Those impassioned expletives keep ringing in my ears. 

 

 

SANTOSH BAKAYA

 

SANTOSH BAKAYA: Winner of International Reuel Award for literature for Oh Hark, 2014, The Universal Inspirational Poet Award [Pentasi B Friendship Poetry and Ghana Government, 2016,] Bharat Nirman Award for literary Excellence, 2017, Setu Award, 2018, [Pittsburgh, USA] for ‘stellar contribution to world literature.’ Keshav Malik Award, 2019, for ‘staggeringly prolific and quality conscious oeuvre’.Chankaya Award  [Best Poet of the Year, 2022, Public Relations Council of India,], Eunice Dsouza Award 2023, for ‘rich and diverse contribution to poetry, literature and learning’,[Instituted  by WE Literary Community]  poet, biographer, novelist, essayist, TEDx speaker, creative writing mentor, Santosh Bakaya, Ph.D has been acclaimed for her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad of Bapu [Vitasta, 2015], her poems have been translated into many languages, and short stories have won many awards, both national and international. She writes a popular weekly column, Morning Meanderings in Learning and Creativity. Com. Her twenty- three books cover different genres; her latest being, What is the Metre of The Dictionary?