Poetry 2012 Shortlist, Varsha Apte

Amber Brew

The coloured lights on the rooftop flicker-shifting and changing track,
Strong and steady is the illumination beneath them,
My gaze, though, is from those crimson blinking beacons unwavering,
Brought to the brink, I must decide, while conflict reigns deep inside.
Decisions to be made and new paths to wisely tread and experience,
Minds to find counsel and haven.
The choice is to be made and the alternatives narrowed,
It's the start of a new day and a journey must I embark upon,
The stage is set, the props assembled and the actors know their part.
Left to me the performance is,
The spectrum is wide but the choice must be made,
The nagging hand of indecision spells collapse,
The clock's ticking and my mind cannot miss a beat.
Ideation, in the womb of erudite is tempted to play Chinese whispers,
Chided is it gently by the baritone of self-control,
The gauntlet is thrown down and a challenge sought,
The urges primitive are suppressed by the iron hand of that Master controller of the mind prongs numbered three.
The crimson of the lights is getting warmer,
Its strength steadily imparting me strength,
The ticking gets faster,
My thoughts caramelized with aplomb are taking form,
The stage is set, the stage is set,
The curtain rises,
The beacons guiding me, I rise emboldened,
The magic is born,
I must perform.

Poetry 2012 Shortlist, Sourabh Gupta

The Pouring

Wild gulmohar yard
red blooms rotting
on moist earth black
deep-green
clouds
love-dark
shadow afternoon's
sweet, airy yard
sky growling
gathering
bird singing
bulb going
lashings
cold
wet
love-dark
scented moist earth black

how the pouring washes us apart.

Poetry 2012 Shortlist, Romila Chitturi

The Call of Mountains

Through the ages, you have cast a spell on man
Ancient to modern, from caves to heroes
Fascinated by your glory.
Thrilled by your sights and sounds
Looking behind and beyond your physical beauty
The man looks at you, and another looks through him.

The mind particularly sensitive and receptive
To your charm
The belief of Shiva is piece of symbolism of mountains
For the dignity composed and kept.

The love for mountains, virgin and calm
The heart melts for it till the dusk of the day
The night beauty when it’s away
Till the day’s dawn.

The mountain waves like an old breeze
The mountain rises like a small hill
The big wind swiftly leads the breeze

The call of mountains, so perennial and irresistible
Like a pleasure or a challenge.
The tall rocks conceal secrets within them;
Making men unravel it.
Every rock is a problem

Every rock is a question!

Poetry 2012 Shortlist, Pakhi Kartik

Secrets

Amma says secrets are not to be told,
She says they are to be kept hidden
In a place deep within your soul.

She grew up with the notion that,
Secrets were monstrous in nature,
But as long as you were good to them,
They were good to you.

She prided herself to have kept,
all the secrets, except that one,
Which had escaped.

Following a lantern’s trail,
Amma stepped out in the pouring rain,
Calling out her sister’s name,
She hoped to find Tara soon,
Before they were caned.

The mango grove was silent that day
The incessant rain had gone away,
Amma called out to Tara once again,
Picking up her sari pleats,
Slowly she stepped in.

Someone was whimpering,
Hands struggling to be free,
The brawl of fireflies grew violently,
Then came Baba’s voice stern and deep

Amma let out a scream,
She ran back home,
She knows she will not be caned,
Not today,
She will be there before them...

A secret had slipped away.

Poetry 2012 Shortlist, Neelam Harpalani

The Night Hasn't Passed By

The night is still here, as dark and as real, as it could be.
My eyes refuse to blink, to not miss a moment of any possible possibility of seeing you again.

A knock at the door and I see someone who resembles not you but the death of  hope that lives in me.
All the pages keep flipping from first to the last, and I hold myself from trying to feel the blurry lines,
My room echoes with the same old voice, that once helped me live,
And now helps me die, with more then enough for a long never ending night.

I still say "nothing happened" to anyone trying to help me, to get you out of my system,
Jus as I said "nothing happened" a million times,
when you knew there were no "nothings" between us,

The silence is maintained, not even the sighs are allowed to whisper,
The music goes on, as much as it did before, from night to dawn
And I wake up without you, with you in my eyes.

Do you still wear the same smile that lit the day for me..?
I do. I wear the same smile, to make sure when you look around,  it makes you feel nice
It makes you feel the same, it keeps you away from the pain,
And free of everything, you did to me.

I walk by the crowded streets, lost in the same lane that leads to the point, we met.
I keep looking at the kids, hoping to find the same innocence in their eyes, as I did in you,
Walk by the holy places, to feel the peace I found in you,
Hear the same verses to rekindle the faith, I had in you.
Over hear people talking about how special are they for each other, to relive our journey.

I pack and unpack, and pack gifts yet again, with a never dying urge to someday deliver it to your doorstep,
If not for what I felt for you, for the magic that changed me into someone, you said, you loved.
 My eyes hurt when we stayed up talking all night, about nothing but everything that mattered,
And My eyes hurt today, when I keep looking, and the phone does not ring.

A blink of eye, at the slightest of sound,
and my heart skips a beat, every time you don't turn around.

Love is not dead yet,
I do the daily chores and I laugh it out loud
I silently pray and  I make up stories to sustain every day,
But the night hasn't passed by.

Poetry 2012 Shortlist, Megha Mathur

Holding On

As these Moments
Slip from
The space
Between my
Fingers
I clutch
Them warily
Wanting their
Fragrance
To linger
I cling
To them
In the
Distant anticipation
That in these moments
Will I find
Liberation
From my life’s
Banality

Poetry 2012 Shortlist

Winners	Longlist	Shortlist
Debojit Dutta	Farah Bookwala	Amal Bhattacharya
Faraz Ali	Megha Mathur	Sourabh Gupta
Neelam Harpalani	Pakhi Kartik	Sudhanshu Bhandary
Priscilla Rai	Priyanka Surve	Vineet Kaul
Romila Chitturi	Saptarshi Dutt	Varsha Apte