Voracious
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Poetry
Poetry
Ravichandra Chittampalli
Gratia Serpento
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
There is a hunger in the heart Of the demure dreamer Whose meek presence belies The raging fire dormant in his guts. If he could he would pluck the stars From the sky for strawberries Filling his mouth with their blood. No ordinary pot can contain the broth That would assuage the deep delving Craving that in slow silence builds Like drifts of plankton surfacing Before Earth heaves from oceanic depths To consume air, slashing sky with talons. Till then you see him in his luxury flight On unruffled wing, upon the warm current, Regularly fading out and soaring in, Lulling slovenly Time into a dream Where history is forgotten.
Molalla, Oregon, USA
I watch the wilted flowers The ones you bought in as an act to deceive me I watch them droop in the vase Heads under water Drowning in sorrow Hiding from this conversation I watch your tears spill over Black tar and oil streaking down your cheeks Glass shards stringing blood Across the cheekbones I used to love I watch the words fall to the ground Watch them get smashed beneath my tapping foot Impatiently waiting for the flies To dissipate To stop the sudden swarm of assault
152
I watch you try to lie to me Watch you pretend to be a wounded gazelle Not the crocodile with blood around the teeth I watch you try to take me for a mouse Watch you try to manipulate me Watch you try to dehumanize me Victim turned prisoner I watch all this with a sadist smile You are not what you say you are But I I may be all that you say But I am so much more And I will not be a doormat to anyone I watch you And wait for my turn to strike A cobra in the grass.
