The armless
Once I had a snack bar selling soft drinks and unhealthy food
long hours of total boredom and fattening.
I tried to get a drinking license, but a Christian party was
in power at that time, said no.
One Sunday morning, a young man without arms came in
he was drunk, his fly was open, wanted a beer but settled
for a coke with a straw; then he fell asleep.
He awoke and needed a pee. I helped him with this.
Later he told me he was going to Oslo to have artificial arms
fitted, I was glad for him.
I closed the snack bar for the rest of the day took the dog
for a walk, my problems were trifling compared with his.
Corona virus!
Beautifully sculptured like a jewel
Armless, with bulges of a crown
But only those who narrowly escaped
With scars of your sharp fangs
Can tell the potency of your venom.
A merciless human predator
Riding on the wings of morning zephyr
He rears his tent in the ventilation room
Where fresh and expired air mingles
Then strangles his preys
Left gasping for oxygen
Till they become cold and stiff.
You walked into our land armless
Yet even armed men trembled
Naked-head birds that made news
And the guardians of skulls
All retreated shamefully
Into dark barren caves.
You have set humanity on a verge
Where the sole prayer is survival
A brutal infinitesimal entity
Bound on eradicating mankind
Indeed you are an armless beast.
The halls are vacant
The malls are barren
The rails are silent
The roads are empty
The airways are clear.
They say you were a gentleman
Resting in the veins of forest dwellers
Before our kindred in the East
Went out to hunt down bush meat
And returned with a big catch.
One city eat meat
The whole world washed hands
With perfumed sanitizers
That meat must be a great one!
Snakes are dangerous
That's what most people say
If you don't startle them
They will just slide away
If you look closely
And study a snake
You'll see this presumption is all a mistake
Cos they have a head
Eyes mouth and a nose
They have a tongue
But no fingers or toes
They don't wear boots
And have no use for hose
Please don't feel sad for them
For it's very plain to see
Snakes are armless
As harmless as can be
In need
When I feel lost and in pain, I think of the armless man
who came into my café he needed a pee badly
Everyone looked up to the ceiling I had hoped a nurse
would stand up, where are the nurses when one needs one.
I`m no hero, but I helped and since he was armless
I washed my hands.
Later I gave him a coffee which he drank with a straw,
they were going to fit him with artificial arms, he wore
his belongings in a rucksack and he smiled to everyone
as bodily dared people often do who wants to help them
I hoped he would leave before he needed to evacuate,
but I should have asked him why he travelled alone.
Who was the dancer of death ?
You went for the kill,
and not for the killer.
The frail armistice. You
launch a drive for the drill.
It was more than what?
meets the eye. Looks like an
Armageddon. You begin in earnest
to ward off the paranoia.
Nativity was at stake. A
captive psyche fights the fading
memory. Your face goes blank.
My things and your things.
It should not have happened this way.
It should not have happened that way.
Satish Verma
We thrash about
in a pool of our bones
squirting ink into the eyes
of a million long-dead ghosts.
Beneath the blackness of our ink
we snip off the arms of our sanity
one by one by one... we slowly sink
into the echoes of our snapping beak.
In your domain
walking with men of straw
to immolate myself.
If power was sacred
why you did not stop
the reversing of gender role ?
Oh, there was water on Mars
streaking like the tears
on your face.
The apes were coming.
There was elation and suspicion.
The vortex of existence needs surgery.
Unlikeness calls for
introspection. I am asking
god to pray for me.
Satish Verma
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