“A Poet of Sorts” by Rashmi Prakash

Here is a lovely, reflective poem for you today.

I.

Cross, out-of-sorts

at odds, always in want

of a better word

I’m a poet of sorts.

 

Crucified on the cross-

roads of time and purpose

I stand and ponder:

if the road I’m on

 

is less traveled or more?

Cars spin 360 degrees

below, as I watch

from my Ivory Tower

 

40 feet above is enough

too much reality

is not good for me.

I’m fussy.

 

I don’t like to get my feet

dirty. Head planted firmly

in the clouds

I take great strides

 

across the seven seas.

Cross deserts; climb peaks.

Sometimes, I’m seen

millions of light years away.

 

I straddle both worlds.

Clearly, I’ve businesses

of my own to attend.

Philosopher at large

 

sage, devil, demigod

I play many parts –

Ophelia

to your Hamlet.

 

II.

Poised from here, to somewhere

not there, I strike the right

stance, soaring above

the real, inching past fact

 

I land on the surreal

with a light tap.

My wings tend

to crumble.

 

But read on friends,

what did you expect

a geometrical theorem

with a Q.E.D. at the end?

 

I’m a poet and I know it.

 

I quote myself:

if prayers don’t lead

you to that heavenly abode

rest assured physics will.

Unquote.

 

With all particles identified

across quantum fields

both elementary and exotic

how long can He hide?

 

Now where were we?

Memory plays a truant mistress.

 

O yes!

Expectations!

 

That feared and dreaded word.

I’m expected to be afflicted

with a rare sense

of ironic humor.

 

A brain full of nervous

energy – I’m always hyper.

202 times removed

from logic and reason

 

I’m good with numbers.

Playing with infinite zeros

at the tip of my fingers.

I churn out verse

 

night-in, day-out

looking neither left nor right

but dead centre.

My third eye always open

 

shrewdly fixed

and constant

as the north star, pointing

steadfastly –

 

at intimations of immortality.

***

 

 

Rashmi Prakash took her Masters in English Literature from Rajasthan University. She has been a lecturer in English Literature in Kanoria College, Jaipur, and actively involved in theater, both in Jaipur and Mumbai. At present she runs her own Mumbai-based company, Nomad Travels, with her husband. Writing is her passion; she is a regular contributor to poetry forums online. Her poetry has been published in ‘Voices from Within’, a Delhi publication, and her travel articles in the Sunday Observer. At present she is working on a novella and some short stories.