My poems are born from noise
You must create your own inner stillness.
The sea carries its clamor into the poems
my father writes to the symphony of the waves
salty sea spray splash his pages
sound and sense in rhythmic balance.
He hears sea music in darkness and in light.
even the noisy gulls have a song of their own
the sea dictates his choice of home
He is a Masefield of sorts.
Sometimes he places the squealing baby
his much loved second child
under his left arm, to relieve my mother
writes his poems with his right hand
unfazed by the loud cries of the infant.
At my childhood home by the dancing sea
the four am morning chorus of Bombay birds
their built in microphones arouse the sleepless city
sky, tree, rooftop proclaim their presence.
Unlike Sandburg’s ‘Fog’, the light does not ‘come in on little cat feet’
it pours through the windows flamboyantly
to sleep through noise is a learned response.
the ‘high- pitched whines’ of the cicadas
the garish glare of the street lamps.
My mother dislikes noise but adds to it
stumbling into the kitchen half-awake
frying onions loudly for the curry
sizzling sounds, pungent smells, announce
the lunch and supper menu.
the tea boiling on the stove
the slow-frying fish, the round fluffy rotis
all declare their existence volubly.
the clatter of aluminum lunch boxes for three children
before the shuddering school bus arrives.
the bus conductor slaps the side of the bus
“Chalo Chalo” he shouts in Hindi, meaning let’s go.
Father writes his poems to the noise of the city
He says the “noise in the city is matched
By the noise in his spirit.”
He writes hymns in metaphoric darkness
I write poems to the sound of the snow plough
The yelping of the coyotes the howling wind
Sea memories swirling constantly.
Madras Courier originally ran as a broadsheet with a poetry section. It was a time when readers felt comfortable sharing glimpses of their lives through verse. If you have a poem you’d like to submit, do email us at editor@madrascourier.com.
-30-
Copyright©Madras Courier, All Rights Reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from madrascourier.com and redistribute by email, post to the web, mobile phone or social media.Please send in your feed back and comments to editor@madrascourier.com
