"Whatever" Words

Adages you grow up by,
Labeled as clichés today.
Looked at with a scornful eye;
Too preachy in the modern day.

An ever ready rebuke in place;
"Whatever" to say all you mean.
Wisdom dodged with elegant grace,
(Pretentious but) "hep" you seem

But "oh my god", what will happen when
"Whatever" itself goes out of style?
What(ever) will you reply with then,
Without your tri-syllabic guile?

A "cool" new word will be coined.
Same vacuity it will convey;
When "whatever" gets over-toiled
And is classified as a cliché.

The Ugly Manikin

Tall, slender, full of grace,
She stood for the world to see.
A hint of smile played on her face,
Her wares displayed invitingly.

Flocks and flocks who spotted her
Moved to catch a closer glance.
With bated breath curses utter
On seeing her countenance.

Protruding lips that hid her fangs;
In a snarl her lips were curled.
Hair to rival Medusa's ranks;
Spite and anger her visage hurled.

Though garments pretty she had donned,
Failed to lure the people in.
The sight that left them feeling conned:
The unruly, ugly manikin.

Ugliness of the model blots
The lovely clothes that she wore.
In the shop each garment rots,
As unvisited remained the store

Judgments by what seems to be;
No effort made to probe within.
No second glance to really see;
The worthiness of the manikin.

Shopping Spree

Thousands of them
Like discordant downpour.
The resonant footsteps
Walk in by the score.
Helter-skelter
In the glass enclave.
Driven by unending
Want and crave.
Flimsy garments;
Artefacts brittle;
Fattening foods;
Warranted little.
Abundant, yet
All so expensive.
Unneeded, yet
Desire compulsive.
Buy and consume;
Drain all resources.
A job it creates.
A planet it kills.

A River Flows

An unknown journey, an unseen path
The river flows, questions unasked
Led by gravity
To its destiny
Along the bed that time has cast.

Over the cliff, crashed and tore
Its excitement heard in accompanying roar
Living now
And how!
Unbothered about places to soar

Tomorrow too distant to trouble today
The current of life will lead the way
Let worries go
And freely flow
Savour and soak the time in play

Let Go of Rhymes

Shackles imposed by life on me,
Reflected blatantly
In my words; My poetry.

The rigor of rhyming
Without negating
Poetic pulchritude:
Excuse of a stubborn,
Asinine attitude.

Now that I think
Why am I so compulsive
About rhyming and I
Discover the roots
It's the way that I live.
And the beliefs that I built,
Infesting
Themselves in my words.
Exposing
My innermost worlds.

Calling out, pleading for change.
Break all bonds
That hold and hinder.
And explore...
Wander...
See...
Seek...
Unbound beauty.
Not just a change in the way
I pen my poetry
I liberate my life...
I let go of rhymes...

Teachings of a Toddler

The past midnight moon that I sleep off to...
The slothful sun that I wake up to...
Cartoon Network my loyal aide...
'Neath scarring sun Cricket played.

The beautiful days too good to last;
A weekend from now they will be past.
And as I trudge on my way to school
Holiday-memories make me drool.

The school awaits with open gates.
Joyous reunion of school mates.
The merriment of friends who meet.
Set up our castle on our seat.

The classroom caper and the playground games;
The backbench banter and the paper planes;
Delight of a different kind,
Vacations vanish from the mind.

The good times past we tend to rue.
We still enjoy the things we do.
Though complaints never cease to flow,
Mirth of mundane never fails to grow.

Though life will play its puckish ploys.
Battle them with those little joys
That help us through those gloomy lanes
And make it worth living... despite the pains.

Let go the grip on yesterday.
Make everlasting memories of today.
Nostalgia of departed days
On the present cast a haze.
Live for now… and the days to come…
The lessons learnt from the toddler ways.

First Times

The first kiss you kiss…
The first cheque you earn…
The first cigarette tip
That you burn...

The memories we might berate.
Or with nostalgia celebrate.
With affection or with frothing anger
First things of life we commemorate.

The harbinger of
Hundreds to come.
The first remembered more
Than the hundreds' sum.
The direction set
With that first time.
So before the leap
Just think awhile.
For better or
Should it be for worse.
Whether you cherish
Or you curse;
Whether you smile
Or you frown
On the scheme of things
A decade down,
Depends on the dream
That you dream tonight.
So ‘fore the journey set
The rudder right
Make the first of life
A memorable day.
Relish the step forever
Taken today.