Jeet Thayil Poems

I'm back where my life and I parted ways.
I'm talking to the coffeemaker, to the face
towels folded by the sink, to the air
...

Your lips go from sunny side to suicide in a single click.
You're too fast for any sniper.
You know when to hit the ground and stay down.
When you step out, armies rise up or die by your eyes.
...

At 48, the youngest
director in the history of the Civil
Center for Falconry,
Universal Understanding & Aesthetic
...

Leap tall buildings in a single bound? Forget
you, buddy, I
leap years, avenues,
financial/fashion/meatpacking districts, 23
...

When you stop on Market Street
for more anesthesia,
pick up some supplies
— brandy, papayas,
...

When the flooding in the basement got worse
she slipped into a silly dress

and danced to The Best of Nirvana.
...

Let us govern those who undertake the telling of stories.
Censorship is good governance. Self-censorship is an attribute of the highest civilization.
If an actor speaks of God,
...

Listen! Someone's saying a prayer in Malayalam.
He says there's no word for ‘despair' in Malayalam.

Sometimes at daybreak you sing a Gujarati garba.
At night you open your hair in Malayalam.
...

I was born in the Christian South
of a subcontinent mad for religion.
Warriors and zealots tried to rule it.
A minor disciple carried his doubt
...

Who has done this?
Schoolboys, drained of
all emotion but the one
that'll outlast them,
...