My bathroom is a secure place
With a little window to the world.
A two-way window, to look out
And to look within.
Water runs, chuckling,
Washing away dirt; sins too.
The resident spider sprints
With a cockroach in its mouth.
A gecko peers, scrambling
As I sprinkle a little water at him.
A stage
To enact my fantasies
To practice a speech
To sing a song
To talk to my love
Or imagine making love.
Outside, a spider squats in its web
A cocoon hangs from a leaf
A Koel sings, a Kingfisher shrugs
A crow cleans its beak
And a squirrel hops up the tree.
Farther, the world waits –
Sharpening its claws
Cracking its knuckles
Gnashing its teeth –
The world waits for me.
I hide in my bathroom
Comforted by its damp coziness
Peering out at the world
Bracing to be eaten alive.
A buffer zone, a barrier
Between banalities and bitter realities
The bathroom determines
What I am, what I like to be;
And what I do not want to be.
Dear Balan sir,
ReplyDeleteI have had similar thoughts about the bathroom as an institution representing an assurance of privacy to even the lowliest of individuals at even the most crowded of places. I have a theory that, the state of maintainance of a society's public utility facilities is a measure of its civility. The poem itself merits a wider audience.
Regards
Gopu
Have a peek at the public comfort station at the Thampanoor Bus Stand and you will realise the depths of our civility!
ReplyDeleteBalan
Dear Balan,
ReplyDeleteFirst time I come across a poem on a bathroom. And just imagine, it really is the place where all poems are born! Great stuff all the way.
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ReplyDelete