Sanjeev Sethi



Concert

Moving in and out of fences is privilege
of peregrinators. Change in regime ensues
ill-gotten gains are parked in brand-new
strongrooms. Television news anchors
daily shower in front of the hoi polloi:
errors in anatomy and erogenous zones
are scrutinized. Mimetic expressions
don’t shy away from the hydra of work-
aday routines. That’s their fete. Arête
thrives where heartsease is homed. Its
beat knows when to be strident or silent.
Control sets in quittance.



Wordlessness

Poems we didn’t punch
were more courageous
than those keyed in.
Threads run out in transmission.
There is no dossier to back me.
It is intuited even if
there is no urge to end it.



Catholicon

A goldilocks ride is out. Insoluble
griefs are tattoos from cosmic
artistry due to elements in one’s
karmic portrait. Remit is the galling
exposure in present gyre marked in
other births. Sounds illogical?
Codswallop? Amulet of acceptance
helps in escalading the couloir of
cloudiness. If good-luck stickpin
is in theriomorphic shape, so be it.
In fairy dust of faith all is okay.



Intimacy

Billets-doux from boy-days
carried flavors of innocence.
They were luculent without
labor. Now, when intimacy
encourages us to undress
we cover our feelings.



Wreath

Without perfins we inhaled each other’s perfume
disparlure is deciduous: permanence of social
structures exist as impedimenta to indulgence.
Urgencies with which we expressed ourselves
spoke of perceived and prevalent fears, if I
had to relive, I would worry less, be in less
haste: depleted billfolds impress no burglar.
Grammar of goodness is always in short
supply, grangerizing my sealed book
during your back-fence talks, is taking it
to level of churrasco. Its guff gets to me.




Sanjeev Sethi is the author of three well-received books of poetry. His most recent collection is This Summer and That Summer (Bloomsbury, 2015). His poems are in venues around the world: Indefinite Space, Serving House Journal, Better Than Starbucks, The Greensilk Journal, The Bond Street Review, Boston Accent Lit, Cavalcade of Stars, The Curly Mind, Your One Phone Call, and elsewhere. He lives in Mumbai, India.
 
 
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