by Gopikrishnan Kottoor
For miles around grows the tall rose
garden.
Every night after the lights go out from
the glass bungalow,
There’s the sound of scissors clipping the
green stalks
In the
cold cicadas breeze.
The rose trees are healthy. Wild bees
shuffle about them
In cranberry fashion. The wind knocks the
full buds
With a lover’s face upon wedding breasts.
The turf is neatly laid.
And then the roses bloom.
All night, all day the roses
Read the dreams of passing lovers.
Some go packed to the Funeral Director’s
office
To be lowered down with Grace.
The others wait in line for tourists,
Their digicams, and for the models briefed
in flowers.
And no one hears that song of clay
The rose gardener on his thorns in the dung
among the worms
The empty bottle cracked and bleeding by
his side.
- Share this Poem:
ABOUT THE POET ~
Born (1956), Trivandrum, Kerala, India., Winner, All India Poetry Prizes, Poetry Society, India-British Council Awards (96, 97, 98), and other leading poetry prizes. Poetry published in Ariel (Canada), Orbis (UK), Nth Position (UK), Bluefifth Review (UK), Toronto Review (Canada), The Illustrated Weekly of India, Kavya Bharati (India), Fulcrum (USA), Verse, Seattle, (USA), Indian Literature, Arabesque Review, Plaza (Japan), Chandrabhaga (India), and others. Founder editor, Poetry Chain. Participant, MFA, Texas state University, (2000) Poet in Residence, Augsburg University, Germany (2004). Important works : Poetry : Father, Wake Us In Passing, (German Translation, Wolfgang Heyder) A Buchenwald Diary, Mother Sonata, Victoria Terminus, Poems Selected and New (2010). The Coloured Yolk of Love (2012). Drama: Fire In The Soul The Mask of Death. Novel : A Bridge Over Karma (Novel). Poetry included in The Bloodaxe book of Contemporary Indian Poetry In English, The Golden Jubilee Anthology of Post Independence Indian poetry In English, and Poetry Society, India anthologies.
Last updated June 11, 2012