Jayakrish Nair

 

 

(India)

 

 

 

 

 

 

ULYSSES 

 

Ancient  mariners
for voyage nouveau
rusted compass
for new directions

you don’t  get a high on
the  newly brewed wine
or old  Penelope

with faces in pallor
and dried-up muscles
the ancient mariners
murmur their protest:
why another voyage?
Ulysses, sir?

NOSFERATU

 

Yes,
he comes
day presences in coffins
tucked away in remote castles
bite marks on the
back necks of pretty women
rapid loss of blood
at night
pallor
automatic abortions

yes, he comes
as a cat
     a dog
     a bat
     a shining ball
     a shade
     a smell
     a memory

yes, he comes.

 

 

 

The demons
in tales I’ve heard
are all ravenous
they eat their prey
raw
and drink their blood
by gallons
but mostly
they are blind
and even children
dupe them easily
and escape
from their foolish traps

yes, children
who break free
from the
castles and dungeons
and come
hurrying over the marshes
and across the forests
to the plains
seeking liberation

yes, the children
decoding the riddles
providing profound
answers to
little quizzings
yes, they are coming
into
the present.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

____________________________________________

 

BIO

Born 1961; educated  at the  University  of Calicut, Kerala, India. Holds BA and MA  in English Language  and  Literature and MPhil in Modern English Studies. Has been teaching at the  post-graduate level for the past 28 years and is presently  a  professor of English at NSS College, Ottapalam, Kerala, India.  A known poet in Malayalam, a prominent  Southern Indian language, in which he has published two collections of poetry.  His first collection of poems in English is TOTAL TATTOO/2011( TAO BOOKS,INDIA). He’s a writer and broadcaster.