Ayyappa Paniker Poems

Everyday
at night
in the kitchen
a little food
...

Hey Gagarin, devourer of Space,
I come, a wayfarer, get off my tracks!
Yield today
to my moral concerns,
...

One day Uncle Indan wiped the dirt
off his right foot with the left foot
then off the left foot with the right foot
then off the right foot with the left foot
...

On the day of the feast
death had its celebration
the teevees and the movies
told us the same story
...

Four gallant horses
galloped forth.

One was white, one was black,
one was red, one was brown.
...

White clouds may never rain!
They only float across the sky lazily!
Dark clouds rain giving wetness to the ground
Thunder thrills the earth.
...

The squares at least
don't remain squares
and taut
linking loops
...

It was the end of Kaikottikali*
and the beginning of Bharatanatyam for Bhagavathykunjamma.

Legs close, yet apart, must be bent.
Not that way, this way, not this way, that way…
...

Stop writing about rivers!
Rivers bring in flood waters
and drown the towns.
The long-awaited rains
...

The drawing room in his house is filled with animals.
Animals cast in bronze, steel and brass.
Trained to remain quiet, they
turned to quite a noisy racket last night.
...