SS Prasad


The Cat

Light prowls.
The cat is a little star's,
not Arundhathi Subramaniam's.

Poona samiyar vesham potirichaam.
The cat is Manushya Puthran's,
not Arundhathi Subramaniam's.

It is dead.
The cat is Schrodinger's,
not Arundhathi Subramaniam's.

It is alive.
The cat is Schrodinger's,
not Arundhathi Subramaniam's.

Othello.
The cat is not William Shakespeare's,
but Arundhathi Subramaniam's.


Identity Problem

Your Arundhathi Subramaniam
is not my Arundhathi Subramaniam.

My Arundhathi Subramaniam
is not your Arundhati Subramaniam.

This Arundhathi Subramaniam
is not that Arundhathi Subramaniam.

That Arundhathi Subramaniam
is not this Arundhathi Subramaniam.

Arundhathi Subramaniam
is Arundhathi Subramaniam.

My Arundhathi Subramaniam is Ramba.
My Arundhathi Subramaniam is Urvashi.
My Arundhathi Subramaniam is Menaka.
My Arundhathi Subramaniam is Thilothama

of Heaven,
not of Earth.


Nidhi

Nidhi
is not my wife's name;
it is yours.

Arundhathi Subramaniam
is imaginary as
Eunice's Eunice,

a virtual reality
like Sujatha's
President of the Nation.

Arundhathi Subramaniam
is my concubine
in imagination.

To have her as one,
of course, I have
my wife's permission.




The poems above are taken from the 'Wild and Wicked' section of SS Prasad's Tamil Poems, some more of which appeared in Otoliths 30, 32 and 34.
 
 
previous page     contents     next page