Here’s an evocative poem by Subramanian, a poet of urban sensibility, dwelling on gadget-dependent life – exclusively for Different Truths.

The nib is sharp, gleaming,
Holds the pin to the buzz
And eerie chaos life has in a bounty!
 
It is the life of things for one and all,
Also, the cemetery when it goes wrong!
As vital as a nose to breath,
When it fails, there is funereal silence.
 
You realise the mobile in your palm
has a mocking grin, niggardly wink!
 
“I am the measure of your heart’s beat,
The bustle of mind, the symphony of the brain.
If the charger fails, my silence is
a chasm you cannot traverse!
The day dies in a trice.”
 
I bear its grin with gritted teeth,
hurry to the nearest brand-savvy shop.                
 
Whir in the orbit
 
The fan’s blades are still.
They sense they will swing
Only when I want to warm up,
be ready to set about my day.
 
When still they look like a Yogi,
In evanescent reverie,
an unblemished lotus in the pond.
 
Untroubled or dismayed by
the coagulating dust on its frame,                                                     
Any more than shrivelled leaves
Eviscerate the lotus in the pond.
Time breathes on them,                                                     
leaves no moss on their being.
 
The day comes alive only
when one sets on his toes.
Else it is as just vivacious
as the whir in the Orbit.

Picture design by Anumita Roy, Different Truths

K. S. Subramanian

K.S. Subramanian has published two volumes of poetry titled Ragpickers and Treading on Gnarled Sand through the Writers Workshop, Kolkata, India. His poem ‘Dreams’ won the cash award in Asian Age, a daily published from New Delhi. He has been featured in MuseIndia. His poems and short stories have also appeared in magazines, anthologies and web sites run at home and abroad. He is a retd. Senior Asst. Editor from The Hindu, India.

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