Sanjeev Sethi

Chrysalis

Poems in various stages of undress look
for locker-rooms where their intrados
are preened without awkwardness of eyes.
They are shy, before making a bow they
stutter and stammer, to turn amphigory
into expression and face trajectories no-one
can vector. The parting is peachy-keen,
mist of music awaiting the paraprosdokian.

 

Lubricity

Spectators aren’t liable for symmetry in ballonné,
I can’t rein in on frequencies of another. Love is
few drops, at best fistful of feelings. Those who
praise matter little, one I look for looks elsewhere.
Ardor vaporizes: like batts are tucked in buffets
some connections need the quiet of quarantines.

 

Goings-On

Soliloquies of visiting sparrows
rib and rub the bird inside me.
Some debates are conversations.
I fail to categorize this one. In my
headspace sounds that please are
positive. All others, noise. This
reminds me of television. Can
anything evolve in maelstroms,
except ways to eschew them?


Sanjeev Sethi is the author of three well-received books of poetry. His most recent collection is This Summer and That Summer (Bloomsbury, 2015). His poems are in venues around the world including 3:AM Magazine, The Tower Journal, Peacock Journal, The Penmen Review, Red Fez, Indiana Voice Journal, The Penwood Review, Easy Street, Soul-Lit, Novelmasters, Poetry Pacific, Transnational Literature, Postcolonial Text, Bluepepper, Otoliths, and elsewhere. He lives in Mumbai, India.