Bird bands

of different sizes
next to each other
like measuring cups
of 100ml, 200ml, 500ml, 1l, 2l
of an Indian milkman
or an oil grocer

Young clothespin

How old is migration?
Older than its first viewer.
Everything has a time stamp
A banded bird
Its band

Radiometric dating
Fossils

Sails down

She sat on a bench           Black Crowned night heron
still in grey         stood fixed like a statue

a flock of birds             In its dormant time
could have made             the heron was no good
her move with them            to distract when its even
to the next thought             hard to notice

Some wind pushed her to move on while the heron stuck to its ground

As the post

beneath

the cormorant
extends itself
on the roosting board
like a wicker on fire
in a lantern
tuned to its
brightest

The stilts

stand ankle deep
in the still water
all in the same direction
anticipating waves to wash
them off their feet

For the same 75c

Day 1

Good smelling coffee

Day 2

Just hot water

Day 3

Hot water with a little flavour added and a little missing

Day 4

¾ cup of coffee

Day 5

1/3 cup of coffee

Day 6

The cup fell to a side. I was worried, so tried adjusting it. So I opened the door. The machine wouldn’t let me. It like just snapped the door shut and just filled with 1/6 cup of coffee.

*******************
Afternoons at Ritazzi's coffee vending machine, Intel

On the back of an envelope

Writing down
  ingredients
    for a Pistachio
      cake from yellow mix

for the ones
  at the grocers
      and at home

What does club soda
  do in a cake with a box
    of pistachio pudding in
      and another on top

Following another envelope
  will take us there
    to a mountain top
      pinnacle peak

*************************
Format from Invitation poem from "Red Bird Poems by Mary Oliver"

Threshold half way up

A stocky wooden door
placed sideways
on the wall
like a frame

On a close look
I recall a
huge cuboid log
that slides from the
inside from the wall
on one side of the
door to the other
to hold the
door halves

****************

Cafe Krishna, Chandler

The Spectrum

of varying colors
on the steps
at Nukus Art Museum
coaxes you to find
a lateral pattern
while moving up

Enigma of languages

Everyday morning, in high school I awaited for the language classes, happy with the last days homework. When I moved to the high school, all the Telugu I would learn was done. All the later classes had what I had already learnt. I think it was this reason, that gave the chance for experimenting. The homework consisted of using words in forming sentences. Around the same time I got into Hindi class, I had just learnt the letters, while the rest of the class was way ahead. I cried in the class, when I didnt understand the words.
Once we get comfortable with the basics,then there are possibilities!!

A language for a bird

There are more than
8000 bird species
There are more than
7000 languages
spoken in the world*

Eliezer Nowordwoski,
" And how many more have
disappeared over time?
Probably 12000"

For each lost bird
a language lost
for each birds song
a language unheard

#########################

*Resurrecting Hebrew, Ilan Stavans (pg 50)

Big picture

Sipping water with no ice
waiting for white mocha
an article claiming
continuation
of the part I missed
in read-flip of
yesterdays newspaper.

On finishing the whole of it
I realise the main article
on the front page which
my eyes skipped

hijacked by a
small picture of a troubled
child

Donut Peaches

Orange - tomato and basil
green - spinach and veggie
tortillas are a break
from the brown.

Ordinary looking
Organic onions
should come in
a fancy form too
like Donut Peaches
for the hefty price.

Last night

I visited a place where

A baby warthog
had hair around
its ear that
could light up
like a glow-worm

A overripe brinjal
in a egg holder
tasted sweet.

why write

Enraged
on being ignored
till the observed
takes the form
of words on sheet
haunts the observer
breaks rules
flashes itself
at the mention of
any image linked
to it.

Chaser Wind

A dried leaf
swayed onto the
ground raising
another forward
half feet above
like a bird
chasing another

Thin cup

a long narrow
white cup
with blue floral
design around

in the center
a repeated tight
floral circle
evoked a saucer
with a possible
cup image

maplewood chopsticks

As I walked into
Sun Dining restaurant
a natural perfume
of custard apple fruit
agreed with the
smooth green colors
of the wide booth