Salil Chaturvedi Poems

The cat is asleep
his head upside down
his stomach
...

A name is not a knowing
You have to hug a tree
Feel its bark,
the texture of its leaves
...

Wooden drawers
don't yield up their secrets
easily. Especially after monsoons.
...

We'll keep it a secret. This moon
three-quarter. Fireflies flickering
in the hedges. Crickets repeating
deep mantras. Water flowing down
...

a thousand miles
down the western ghats
winding up thick mountain thighs
rolling down moist valleys
...

Release all the crows!
Let them spill out from your navel.
Let them fly out from under your armpits.
Let them jump out from between your legs.
...

There are some things in me
that you didn't recognize,
Tiny little details that seem to have
escaped your eyes, but still
...

Oh look at the two fireflies
in our bedroom

One each rising above our
...

Stars spread evenly
on still dark waters

Fireflies mimic them
...

I look at a tree and I find it
taller
than any man I've ever met
or heard
...