1)
Measures loneliness
sip by sip
at dining table

2)
Post-lunch nap-
in the drawing room counts
beads of sweat

3)
God, the first victim
in the divided city:
one more house torched

4)
Couldn’t keep
freshness of leaf
in water

5)
Reluctant to climb
the spiral staircase-
bathing in kitchen

6)
A sad soul
under the mango-
my husband

7)
Ending
the night’s long journey
her short story

8)
Summer vacation:
the noisy roomcooler pricks
my silence

9)
Throwing stones
at unripe mangoes-
two urchins

10)
Through the small window
gaze at the moon hid behind
cloud after cloud

11)
Patterns of hair
block the flow:
flood in bathroom

12)
The first rains coming
back from the desert home-
plateau souvenir

13)
In the well
studying her image-
a hooker

14)
The sky couldn’t retain
all of the moon now entering
my house through windows

15)
Shaking hands
couldn’t part with the henna
on her palms

16)
Two wolves smell
the carcass in field
heat wave chills

17
Thick dust on leaves
un washed by rains for days–
stagnant time

18)
My son’s voice
not relayed by wire–
tense borders

19)
If they could die
in Benares criminals
too go to heaven

20
A sheet of moon on
quiet sea breast spreads drizzling
peace, swim back to shore