Inertia Poem by Raj Arumugam

Inertia is a beast that
seizes you by the stomach
and keeps you slouched in your couch;
it twists your stomach and your limbs go wobbly
and then its hold strangles the brain
you stand on your toes
helpless like a child
with its muscles in an adult's grasp
and you sink into a stupor
when time passes slowly,
but time is gone


and the time is gone
as surely as milk goes sour




(from The Migrant - notes of a newcomer (February 1997- July 1998))