parakeets of Stone Chamber

Vidyashankar Poems

Translated by

k. rajeshwar

Poems for me

Write, You may

Never can you

Ever write

My poems.

* * *

Truth

Unable to speak

Truth

Unable to write

Unable to live

Truthfully

Writers

Are there umpteen

To titillate

To rob time

Few are there

To tell lived agonies

One among

Is me.

* * *

USE, IT HAS

My Poems

Can it not be used

For something

To raise the collar

With stylized

English speaking folks

As Son of Soil

To fanciful film guys

Show and fuss about

As man of depth

To rip stupidity

Amidst silly jokes

At booze parties

By reciting poem

To make

Academy guys wonder

‘Is it? In Tamil?’

And smear Modernism

Can it not be used

For something

Like these

Writing still

Believing them as

Poems

* * *  

Words

That you understand

Meant for Poems

Time

Has claimed them away

What is left

Is Words’ being

And its pain.

* * *

CALLING ZONE

I am incapable of

Going anywhere

Never taken efforts to

Meet anybody

Never known a place

Except mine

Important to go

See and know

Places there

In calling zone

Always

CONTINUING RELATIONSHIPS

Yet another quarter

Certainly you’ll need

Get a friend to buy

Before shop closes

No good omens

For life tomorrow

Seen

Till last gulp

Of drink

Of Kuzhathu Puzhaiyaru

Of Kumari sunrise

Of Thamirabarani

Of Philomi

Who went past forever

Beyond temple tower

Shriveled is everything

Nothing to

Tie together

Peanut mixture

Too, a good combination

Like pickles and

Fried fish

Incomplete drunkenness

Reminds waiting wife at home

Smiling son in awakened sleep

 And all others

Fully, totally and completely

Gulp the moon within 

For Oceans’ upheaval

Like wind

To dissolve without trace

One more quarter

I need

A friend

To search and fetch

To give money and get

Indeed I need him

However, never can

Kinship broken totally

Oh! Fool

Have you ever

Hugged and picked up

Street dog

Fed him milk

Tied ribbon on neck

And named him Bobby?

Have you ever

Got food and

Put an orphan kid

To sleep

In mid-night

Have you ever

Trembled

Seeing stars falling

At your feet

Have you ever

Shed tears

Unable to bear

Quiver in the voice of

The Girl

You’re talking to

These things do happen

But, Rare

Makes being

A Living one

The Life.

When The Stone Sleeps

VIKRAMADITYAN POEMS

  

Mother

A humble soul

She never knew Devaram

Thiruvasagam

Thirupugazh

Songs of Thayumanaswamy

Not even

Abhirami andhadhi

And Kandasashti Kavasam

She would tell

Tales of Karuppasmi

Marching for hunt

She worshiped

Hallowed Lamp

Unfailing

All she knew

Is to cook

Tasty food and serve

To keep

Home tidy

 Unhesitating

To slog day long

To face hardships

Un-panicked

Never let

Tender heart

Go dry

She lived

With fortitude

 And

Pride

She did anything -

In total involvement

Discipline, elegance

And wholeness

Bequeathed from

Her, we perhaps

Worries and meanness

She never knew

Like Mahishasuramardhini

She was

Lived with dignity

And self esteem

You should

Or else

Choose to die

Is it not

Fine to live

Life as she professed

Mom

Never expected

For anything

From any body

Never she

Sets her foot

At any doorstep

Who disrespects

Never hated

Anyone, had

No dreams

Or Ideals

Never disappointed

for anything

Not sad nor

Angry

Never wanting anything

Never spoke ill

Do you know

A thing

Mom

Never knew to write or

Read

Five letters

That dad taught

She would scribble

Like scrawled letters of destiny

Mother

She lived like

A Wonder

* * *

Na. Azhagiasundaram Pillai

Never

Can one be hated or loved

So deeply

Hated him

As much

I loved

More affectionate

Than I

Despised him

Till last moment

Unprepared

To forgive him

Spouted words

Like burning coal

It’s all over

Here I’m

As your remains

Many a people

Would have been needed

To put him down

Who had courage

To face off

That many

Had that incisive mind

That’d win

Any gamble

A persona

...