thecreativespace
1.Chennai Noons
Hot sunlight glitters
Shimmering on metropolitan daydreams.
A centuries old culture
blazes glamorized
on huge hoardings
alive with the permanent smiles
of adored stars
who live happily ever after.
Fragrance of kudamullai
wafts thickly on the humid air
as dark skinned women sit patiently
weaving the opening buds
into lengthy garlands
of pure white perfume.
Their radiant smiles mirror confidence showered by the
Puraichi Thalaivi's beaming posters.
The rustle of ethnic silk sarees
the clamour of silver vessels
the brilliant shine of diamond nose rings
deflect off Chennai Noons
celebrating dowried womanhood
decked in orange marigolds
and the inevitable green of mallikkolunthu.
The mythical land of Kannaki
is a globalised super city
the Meenambakkam airport
crowded with international flights,
the musical slang of native thamizhu
dissolving into fractured bits of English and French.
Still tradition walks the pavement
in six yard chelais.
Chennai Noons
flow into soft salty even times
the sea breeze carrying
remnants of old Tamil melodies.
Chennai is nostalgia
preserved in sun and song.
2. Windmills Dream On
Windmills turn
churning dreams
of vast empty spaces
where the wind whistles wildly
through untamed brush
and tall palm trees,
their uncombed hair
dancing in frenzied rhythm.
Power skims off
the surface of churned dreams
drips into turbos
drives super fast engines
Industries boom
and mankind marches forth
selling the dreams
skimming off creamy layers
of ethnic passions.
Vast empty spaces
where windmills dream on
in leisurely inertia
disappear one by one.
(Sulochana RamMohan is a native of Kerala, writes both in her mother tongue Malayalam and English. Published six volumes of fiction in Malayalam. A film buff, she used to do film criticism for magazines and television. As a member of the Poetry Chain, Trivandrum chapter, she participated in the Mathrubhumi Lit Fest, reading poems in English. Loves doing translations. She has done a few for Samyukta, an academic journal based on Women's Studies. Lives in Trivandrum.
Address: EVRA 426, Eswaravilasom rd, Vazhuthacaud, Tvm 695014.
Ph.9747002088.
Email..sulo.mohan 2000@ gmail.com)