you know how they say "let your little light shine"? i'm increasingly convinced that that's all well and good for reaching some degree of personal satisfaction (or irritating smugness, whichever way you want to say it) but quite pointless if change is the goal. earth hour is coming up, and honestly, the point of the exercise is BECAUSE so many cities all over the world are participating. of course it could be argued that this hardly dents the overall energy use. but the point is about mass movements.

so if you're gonna let your little light shine, go ahead; if you want change, geta blow torch.

good people

please don't
drip
your blood and sorrow
at my front door

she said

with a patient smile
creasing the nicely made up eyes
and slightly pudgy fingers
making little dancing movements.

please don't
ring the bell
in the middle of a sunday afternoon
telling me your woes and troubles
as if i haven't heard them before
as if
i don't have any of my own.

please come round
to the back
to the servant's entrance
we are good people
you know
and always give alms
and a glass of water in the summer.

this landscape i call home

this landscape i call home
refuses to call me son.

it laughs at my accent
tenderly developed and pruned,

pats my khata peeta belly
that ascends the hills in elevators,

peers into my back pocket
that jingles with an alien sound,

smiles politely while i take pictures
and sighs at my pitiful understanding,

feeds me meals reserved for guests
and makes tasteful dinner conversation,

and then packs me off
back to where i came from
and goes back
to washing dishes.

a few of my favourite things

songs with the sound
of broken glass
poems with the rhythm
of a quickened heartbeat
pictures with the blood trail
of a leather whip
stories with the taste
of earth and grease

mornings with the smell
of change