2 Poems by Ramya Sriram

19 October 2010
2 Poems by Ramya Sriram
street rain

saree-rag lady
child on her hip
through the car window
stone-faced man looks away

glistening tar
open drains
a lone wet chappal
in the gutter

a woman curses
as a bike
cuts through the puddle
muck-white salwar

under the bus stop
strangers huddle together
in overlapping
shadow-patterns

look here
mud-covered tyre
and there,
newspaper print leaks

street rain,
revealing, concealing
filling up, washing away
the secrets of the city.


spirit

this one
is not just some
intangible wispy mist

it has volume
direction
life

it has muscle
power
energy

it's elastic
it's tough
poke, prod

and it will
bounce back
into shape

made of
stronger stuff,
this full-bodied soul.


Ramya Sriram keeps track of the endless cup-of-life-runneth-over type experiences by writing poetry and drawing stick figures. She has recently published a book of poems in free verse titled Inklings and blogs at http://moimystique1.blogspot.com.
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