Rejected Poem

1

The poem was accused

asanti national

and rejected

like a US visa applicant

from Muslim country

It wanted to prove as nationalist

It started with Vandematharam

the continuing lines were only nouns

of the independence struggles

in which the poem was part of

Rest of the lines were written in Green,

White and Kesari in color

Signed on the lines which start with J&K

that they are integral part

it ended with national anthem

The poem was again rejected

on the grounds

it had two names Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan

in the foot note

syntax had no saffron and khaki pattern

Moplah rebellion is included as one line

and instead of 1947

its written Azaadi.

2

MY MISSING POEM

My poem said to be missing
by the editor
I got a formal letter today saying
Your poem is missing and we regret to inform you that
we can’t publish missing poems

I had sent it via Registered post
signing on the poem
He had to sign on the register
to accept my poem
and on the records he has signed on it
Still he says my poem is missing
Did any ABVP goons assaulted my poem
after the editor singed on it?
This time my poem had a Muslim name
unlike last time

it had a Dalit name then
Editor didn’t accept my last poem saying
I haven’t attached an original
Scheduled Caste Certificate
since they found the attached certificate is fake
Now I didn’t have any Muslim certificate to attach with
but he might be sure of it
from the syntax, adjectives, verbs and rhymes
that its a Muslim before it was “missed” between the editors
Where does all the missing poem goes?
To the dust bin of the editor and then
to the dumping wastes ?
Until a new poem being written and published
the idea of my poem see no light
Unless my poem is found in between by the police

or the dead body of my poem found in editors dust bin.

3

8 WAYS TO LOOK AT

A COW IN INDIA

1. Did the Hindus never eat beef?
Dr.Ambedkar said yes
they did

2. Cow is a holy animal- said the Brahmin
and waited for Dalit
to remove the dead cow

3. “The cow and the bull are sacred
and therefore should be eaten”-
Apastamba Dharma Sutra

4. Aklaq didn’t ate it-
the postmortem report
and forensic report

5. There are only Muslims and Dalits killed
in the race of Gauraksha
why?

6. Urine and cow dung
the holy profit
than milk

7. Who got the profit of cow?
Mosalman butcher?
or the Bhaniya merchants and exporters?
or the Saffron?

8. Again one more killed
was told, he ate beef
No one asked,
if he had food to eat.

4

GULBARG SOCIETY

A black cat is still hanging around here and there

for many years now

since 2002

The old blood scars have become back

like the colour of the the cat skin

Spiders have conveniently made nets

that covered many of the scars

Pigeons have made nests on the chimney

which were burned

There is silence everywhere

a deadly silence

the silence coming out of the fear of danger

thecolour of the fear is the colour of the burned dresses of kids

while they were burned alive

The word truth is capable to shake the founding

stones of this building

The dusty case files in the Supreme court and High court

have become food for termites

The wind that use to come some times from the East

and embrace the building says

“wait the truths will come out one day

you have to wait until justice come”

It has been long time since wind came

Its scared of the cat, spiders or termites ?

Default image
AJMAL KHAN A.T
Ajmal Khan A.T is a bilingual writer who writes in English and Malayalam. His English poetry collection My Tolerant Nation is published (forthcoming) by Wings & roots (2017) and Malayalam one line story collection Museebat (2017) published by Monsoon Books, Mumbai. His poems have also appeared in anthologies including GOSSAMER; An anthology of contemporary world poetry by Kindle Magazine.

Newsletter Updates

Enter your email address below to subscribe to our newsletter

Leave a Reply

Physical Address

304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124