Two Poems by Abel Johnson Thundil

 

Stripes

She was a tiger pacing behind a bush

Refusing to look eye to eye,

Yet flashing her stripes through the gaps,

Like a nostalgic komorebi that blinds me

From seeing the present

And the future…

Leaving me stuck forever

As a pin ball within an arcade of memories,

Unable to escape its glass cage…

Leaving me stuck forever

As a palm on the window of an abandoned house;

Always observed yet never cleaned,

For a ghost is merely what one does not understand…

She was a tiger pacing behind a bush,

Refusing to look eye to eye,

Yet flashing her stripes through the gaps

Like a whore who twerks out the window

To tempt men

Without tending to them…

I Throw Axes At Moving Targets

I throw axes at moving targets

And attempt to hit them,

Admiring all those who could do it

On horseback,

Blinded…

Axes and targets

I throw axes at moving targets

And attempt to hit them,

Without the realization

That the targets were set in motion

By the very people who are able to hit them…

I attempt to hit them,

Without realizing that they have better axes,

Comfortable clothes,

Horses which slow down when they are ready,

While I am here,

Set to hit targets made by people I have never seen,

With an axe which I never got to try out,

On a horse so wild, they expect me to tame it myself,

All the while being blinded permanently…

Abel Johnson Thundil is a young poet from India. He is the author of two anthologies of poetry. His poems are sometimes sentimental, sometimes dark; but always with a madness that’s very enjoyable. His works have appeared in The Hooghly Review, Fevers of the Mind, The Whiskey Mule journal and other publications. His latest anthology, ‘Wilted: poems of modern tragedy’ is available on Amazon: