The Merchants Of Death

A river of blood spills over to our frolicking bedroom; Floods of grief drown someone’s ripe laughter. Death composes morose poetry, melancholic; I am gambling with a frozen sentiment. What someone points to is none of our business; Our deep aloofness is very dear to us, our comfort zone; We purposefully think to go for a matinee show, Leaving our neighbour’s home to be incinerated; Or when someone gets chocked to death for a silly reason; Thinking these are all a few trivial issues. Some dear dreams face guns in front of The guava orchard down the lane.

A newly married couple parts away with mutual agreement The stream of hope gets frustrated umpteen times Trusting in our own clan costs us a lot, often No heart rhymes in the heart of our relationships All moral lessons today are deflated like a gullible balloon. A flock of fanatics spews venom from a cul-de-sac; A torrential disguised bloodthirsty team worships the devil, Sells death, wears bombs and drinks blood. God is a caricature robbing millions’ heaven on earth.

Your flight develops a technical glitch in the air And you are hopeless for one more chance to live. There is a celebration in the neighbourhood And a series of thunderstorms of elation. Your world gets rolled smooth as you like; You enshrine a lovely fresh vision; You design a master plan to redefine peace. What went wrong, time screams like a disgruntled calf; A group of bats whirr as usual in the mango grove; Fate can’t see the new vision in the east.

Here, you and I see our insured lives become uncared carcass; The prostituted smell of religious bigotry kisses you and me, We are at gun point worshiping a devilish god; It’s Brussels or Nice, Paris or Istanbul, Mumbai or New York; The entire hopes melt down in a blink.

Pitambar Naik was born and raised in Odisha in India, went to GangadharMeher College in Sambalpur for a BA and Osmania University for an MA in Journalism. He is an advertising copywriter based in Hyderabad and writes poetry and non-fiction in English.

He has been featured in journals such as Brown Critique, Spark Magazine, CLRI, Indian Review, Indian Ruminations, Galaxy-IMRJ, Forward Poetry (UK), Hunter Poems (UK), Muse India, HEArt Online (USA), Indian Periodical, Poetic Prism, An Anthology Poetry of Indian poets and elsewhere. Some of his poems are due to be featured in Metaphor in the Philippines and in the Kitab, Singapore.