Winning the Toss
Winning the Toss
By Saloni Kaul
The head's up there in all-time honoured milieu
But on the tail's side loud distinct as the cry of the curlew
Is the ultimate statement, the coin's value.
Filtering by Category: Poem
Startled as Springboard
Startled as Springboard
By Saloni Kaul
A glass walled chapel so unique in rock and wood,
Deft latticed skeleton leaps into tree-branched sky,
Aspiring in forest-screened tongued darkness high
Like long forgotten promises, forgotten good.
How long have you sighed there, how long there stood?
We stumble tearing on you in transfixed delight --
Delight of lovers longing to be somewhere lost --
Yet signs of former civilization sparked at what cost,
All that dart leaping dancing stained glass light
Stirs deeply us as boisterous wind the night.
Even this Bonaparte Gull's exploratory
Mild acrobatics veering in bring smiles in face of fright,
As lonely your thawed lofty look of might
All miracles converges for all to see laudatory;
E pluribus unum* , one from many's conciliatory.
(*out of plurality, oneness)
These Pennsylvania hills still sing your hymns,
Recorded, saved by every nourished bird and tree
Afloat on blue tract meadowed lea;
We take your leave as slow the red waning light dims,
All o'er the open muskeg by woodland lakes' rims.
Minuet in a Teacup
Minuet in a Teacup
By Saloni Kaul
A sail out at sea
Repetitively careens,
A face in storm stares
And makes as though about to intervene.
The sail its love of sea declares,
The face of storm proposes a fee ;
Poses its dares ; offers to share;
Resolute, Sail in the know resists, dare contravenes.
The difference between
The sea and stormy sea
Is light cold or hot air.
This Maze This Woman
Every man
needs a cane
and a German Shepherd
to ford the mind
and engage the maze
of any woman
single or married.
It doesn’t matter
which maze
which woman
as long as he
trundles on
when he marries
supports his children
grows old
and then rises
one hot morning
blinks in the ether
and asks himself
why did he marry
this maze
of a woman
only to find alas
she’s gone
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Nothing is anywhere anymore,
Dad shouts over the phone.
His reveille again at 4 a.m.
Will I come over and find it?
What's missing, Dad, I ask.
It's midnight and I'm in bed.
It'll take awhile to get there.
Your mother went to make
pineapple upside down cake
hours ago and still no cake.
She's nowhere to be found.
I called the neighbors.
They won't come over.
It's just me and the dog
and he's asleep.
Son, I need your help.
Mom died 10 years ago, Dad.
You and I went to the funeral.
We buried her at St. Anthony's.
Remember all the rain?
And then the rainbow shining?
Son, you're right again
Sorry I woke you but where's
the pineapple upside down cake?
I've been waiting for hours.
A little snack and I'll turn in.
Tom-Toms in the Night
When he walks behind her
so many years his wife
up the staircase laughing
off to bed this night
he can hear the tom-toms
in the jungle of his night
and so he whispers softly
let's try for twins tonight.