Sanjeev Sethi

Condition

During the unweaned phase, owning a papeterie was bliss.

In some ways, it still is: One reaches a stage when the

material fails to cover the chinks.

Unfulfillment fuels most creative endeavors. If the auteur

had shtupped with some, there wouldn’t have been any

saga on the red light from his stable.

Laudanum of legolepsy spins it for us. The sourpuss corner

other channels to pamper themselves. Correct signals reach

invious spheres. To indite in guilt is a likable gripe.

Pandiculation

The night was without an awning.

Moonshine encouraged us

to mouth our maxims.

Half of us were draped in rigors

of decency, the rest placed on view

discreet parts of their psyches.

I remember the rush, the rummaging.

It still ties me to you

even though other hanks hold us.

Today

When lacerations are lighted by the vesta,

of fiscal gains, it matters not which side is

on an erroneous footing. The stirrings of

latent feelings via staged TV debates whip

up diffractions in argent and otic waves.

Thoughtlessness has some thought to it:

Usually, from the negative side of things.

Not being awakened is unfortunate. To

be consciously unconscious is worse: A

prerequisite for many winning positions.

Audits of contentious historical chapters

must be inaugurated post a generation or

two in the first rows are gone to reward.

Distance is an antidote: It is foolhardy

to look for a four-leaf clover.

Postlude

A retired professor’s swan song:

is to distribute handbills

with a communiqué on

communal harmony

on packed streets

in the city of her initiation.

Farewell is a feeling.

It stuffs or sidelines you

with its malice or momentum.

Inveiglement

Rhyme of reclusiveness springs forth its stanza as you

enter my anteroom. The impatience in bearing tallies

to the folds of your lower, bearing myriad lines of lust.

The flood wall of silence distracts the air from intoning

our ditty. This hegemony of hate must end, or reredos

of regret will envelop the inevitable.

I’m in no position to stop you as you box the imaginary

chin of the cosmic with your utterances. My mind’s page

runs to clean itself with the wipe of new words.

Sanjeev Sethi has authored seven books of poetry. His latest is Wrappings in Bespoke (The Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK, August 2022). He has been published in over thirty countries. His poems have found a home in more than 400 journals, anthologies, and online literary venues. He edited Dreich Planet #1, an anthology of Indian poets for Hybriddreich, Scotland, in December 2022. He is the recipient of the Ethos Literary Award 2022. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the prestigious National Defence Academy, Pune, during its 75th anniversary in the “family members category.” He lives in Mumbai, India.