With frugal memory you wanted
to tame the radical spine,
while fright was bending the thighs.
Was it a travesty of the graduated thumb?

The speed of the river had accelerated
in aching land. People gathered to collect
the alms daily. Violence was sending
the severed heads on the road.

What do you think of the failing effect
of tricks of politics? A deep tunnel
opens the wounds of centuries, of hate
and acrimony, the opacity of large lips.

Ultimately you suffer the words,
hairy sexuality and pungent darkness
of the breath of salt hills.I am
reverting back to count again.

Satish Verma