Dilip Chitre Poems

It's all mixed up: Vladimir, Yaroslav,
The skeletons of monks in the underground church,
The Tartars, the Cossacks, the Germans, the Stalinists, the contemporaries,
...

A fouled Sun rises from behind the textile mills
As I crawl out of my nightmares and hobble
To the sink. Then I luxuriate in the toilet
...

Reflect my grief
River of loss and gain
Mother of bliss
Source of pain
...

The Czar Peter opened up a window on Europe
From where the bankrupt poets of the future saw
A mysterious navy well-armed with battle-ready poetics
Advancing on Russia.
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Prophets have light
Screwed tight in their eyes. They cannot see the darkness
Inside their own loincloth.
...

They tell me your colour is blue
My life-breath feeds on your inspiring luminous pastures
All that stands still or moves has turned into grass
In celebration of your much-extolled blueness
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In your poisoned wounds
Fall the shadows of burning planets
The splitting breakers of foaming oceans
...

as the butterfly
hovers near a sunset
its wings touch the sea
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An early wake-up call
your first lover
...

Discarded lovers
with charred eyes
fall asleep on the green bench
they don't care any more
...