The Past is Gone

Subramanian rues about the changing landscape of Chennai, in this nostalgic poem, exclusively for Different Truths.

Chennai’s landscape is changing faster
beyond the raising of the brows;
A fusion of time zones where the Past
has disappeared into the shadows.
A jaded glimmer of luscious green
lurks like a tree in the maze of mist;
Roads cry for a fresh coat of life
as wheels rip through clouds of dust.
New alleys of chameleon hope on view –
Farmlands giving way to pigeonholes,
where the old seek salubrious wind,
the young tensing for defined roles.
The Past only a dust-blown wallpaper,
uncover new vistas in the day’s layer.

Poet’s Note: Chennai is one of the metros going through a paradigm of change and the present face is hardly what it was 40 years ago in memory. Only a Chennaite will know and speak for what it signifies. A sign of ageing and sapping metabolism? Or is it a question of how one looks at growth?

Visual by 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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