Mr Anonymous, A Life Poem by Raj Arumugam

Oedipus man
you’re not done
worlds move in and out
and meaning is undone;
and the Sphinx says
it’s your mommy and daddy
and this time
you can never unravel the riddle

the woman dad sleeps with
is not his wife
and his wife is not your mom
and your mom never carried you
and the womb you lived in is anonymous;
what else is new?


times are always the same
there’s nothing strange or novel
except terms and focus and brands

and the child who calls you daddy
is not yours
and the man who calls you 'Son'
is loose in his morals

O see how man
how things unwind
and you have seen
unknown things
tease and strip;
and you have wept in
the face of the storm
in a world of King Lear’s
turned upside down, inside out
and you have cried like the Fool:
Ah, Hold! Hold!


O man don’t die on us
for we won’t die on you;
you’ve lived on hallucinations
and walking alone and wandering the face of the earth
you’ve tried all drugs, and ecstasy and Soma
and now you’ve adopted God and religion -
ah, it’s always been one drug or other



Oedipus man
you’re not done
worlds move in and out
and meaning is undone;
and the Sphinx says
it’s your mommy and daddy
and this time
you can never unravel the riddle