Featured Poet - Archan Mehta

DIVING WITHIN

Silence is like

A dream with wings

And solitude takes 

Some learning:

Being alone is

A gift, so cherish it.

In fact, it feels like

A divine madness to

Escape from frenzied

Mobs and stay away

From crowds:

Just to sit and do nothing

In a vacant room without

Human company

And observe your breaths

Inhalations and exhalations

And to be

As passive as a log 

Lying still in the jungle:

Just for a change

To break away from

Daily routine and

Be different and discover the

Still, small voice within:

Why, it almost feels 

Like a revelation, deliverance!

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is not 

Necessarily romantic love.

Rather, love is an impulse

Which touches heaven.

Loves lives among

The clouds and hesitates

To walk in public.

Love is like

A magician demonstrating tricks:

Love pulls a rabbit

Out of a hat, suddenly.

Love is a rose

Trapped among thorns.

Love is a shiny or bright

Diamond in the rough.

Love lives with hesitation

Among human beings

In civil society.

Whenever there is

War or conflict,

Love reveals a soft,

Gentle and tender flower.

Love reduces dictators, violent

Criminals and terrorists to tears.

Love emerges, slowly, from the

Shadows of darkness to reveal light.

Love replaces ugliness with beauty.

Love soothes open, sore

And festering wounds and

Love nurtures babies.

Love flows and transforms

Everything that love touches.

Love is like a naked angel

Who dances on shards of glass.

Love gives hatred a pass:

Instead, love smiles

Like a fresh, new dawn.

Love hates being cooped up

Inside a gloomy room. Instead,

Love longs to break free

And love ambles along

In a quaint village 

With a rustic garden.

Love is creative

And not prescriptive:

Love follows nobody’s

Rules and instead love

Creates its own rules.

Love in not fixed in space

And time. Instead, love

Is flexible and adaptable

And flows freely

Like wine in an open bar.

TOXIC COUPLE

The husband was aggressive

And his wife was passive. This

Husband and wife duo sat behind

Me in faculty room number eleven.

They had no sense of shame and bullying

Others was part of their game. The more

One helped them, the more hostile they

Became. They wanted money, power,

Influence and social status in the school.

To reach this goal, they did not mind

Bending the rules. The institute had hired

The husband without the required academic

Degree. Thus, his students found themselves

Struggling in class and adrift in the sea. The 

Students complained but the Director turned

His back on them again. When the profit motive

Rules, it is these students who suffer and lose.

MY LOVE

My love

Is like the ocean.

My love is

Like the blue sky.

My love is like

Tears falling in the rain.

My love is blind

Like the sky at night.

My love is patient

Like a mother

Nursing her baby.

My love is made

Of hues, shades and colors.

My love cannot fade

Away into the abyss.

My love is like

A rose, smiling.

My love is like

Puffy clouds on

A mountain top in Hawaii.

My love is gentle

Like a baby’s warm hands.

My love is like poetry,

Ageless and timeless.

My love is like

An old and dear friend

Who can be trusted

In good times and bad times.

My love will be remembered

Long after my body 

Turns into a heap of ashes

My love is like

This song

Which I have created

For you, gentle readers.

ARE YOU AN ARTIST?

Are you an artist?

Does your spirit soar

Like an eagle in the sky?

Do you often wonder why

The sky is blue?

Well, me too.

Are you an artist?

Do you sing in the shower?

Oh, the horror of your voice!

Ah, but you secretly rejoice!

Are you an artist?

Do you kiss adorable 

Toddlers and babies,

Cute cheek to sweet cheek?

Do you like to meet perfect

Strangers at odd hours?

Do you love

The smell of tender flowers?

Are you an artist?

Do you like to luxuriate

On a sandy beach?

Do you stay away

From those who preach?

Are you an artist?

Do people around you

Complain that you are odd?

“Well, go take a hike, Todd!”

Are you an artist?

Do you gaze longingly

Into the unknown?

Do you often dream about

A hot date with Sharon Stone?

Are you an artist?

Does “Investment Banking”

Sound too lame?

Why, to be honest, you

Are not even in that game!

Are you an artist?

Do your feet dance to the

Beat of the Rhythm and Blues?

Well, for Pete’s sake,

What are you doing?

Put on your dancing shoes!

Are you an artist?

Do you think tattoos are cool?

Are you good at breaking rules?

Are you an artist?

Do you fantasize and

Build castles in the air?

Why, even if the 

Masses stare you down?

On the other hand, who

Cares if the masses put

On a frown?

Are you an artist?

Are you passionate about

Shades, colors and lights?

Do you love to play in

The outdoors and fly a kite?

Do you travel very light?

Are you an artist?

Were you the class clown

Who made the masses laugh?

How did you fare in math?

Are you an artist?

Do you often dream about

Making this world a better place?

Do you want to achieve that goal

By demonstrating aesthetic grace?

Do you feel like escaping from

Dead end jobs and the rat race?