The Burnout

I step out of my room

Fresh like a delicate bloom

Covered from top to toe

In the cotton and linen glow.

Its noon! The Sun has risen tall

And I resort to my parasol

Cursing the summer unfolding

Wiping away the sweat sighing.

As I slowly walk ahead

The Sun is blazing red and red

 I hear the concrete-mixer grind

Barefooted someone I find.

Dark, fragile, drenched in sweat

On the searing sand they are set.

I raise my canopy to peek out

And I see a fifty more burnout.

-          -Kranthi

       29/04/2017

The Wall

This wall is tall and everywhere. 
Carefully built with utmost care. 
Jump over it? Don’t you dare!
For Day by day it gets stronger.

Profuse shall you bleed, if you bruise
Not in red but in slur and abuse.
It is neither the wall of a prison
Nor the wall of Berlin.

It is the wall of Gender 
That you and I together built.
Try breaking it and you will see
More and more of'em being built.

Stop, will you? When you see
Hammers of hope pelt at it.
Break, won’t you? When you see
The tiny kids pass by it.

-kranthi

25/10/16