"New Slavery," "Bondage Of Nearness," and "Voters' Tragedy: Four Episodes"

by R.K. Singh

New Slavery

From the 15^th floor window I watch
dreams racing on the muddied road
the ugly beauty of tomorrow

the romance of the miserable
the egotist, the cunning, the heart-broken
the idealist, the maniacs, the enlightened cheats

the crafty, and the unlucky too
who conceal cavity in their shoes
in the gallery of great tech game

fabricating newer lies and hypocrisies
of saffron politics, secular faith, and people’s power
spilling blood to heal history of wrongs

create new cultural fantasy
new racism, new slavery
homegrown narcissistic lords and ladies

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Bondage Of Nearness

How long shall I seek freedom in the myths we unmake
licking hairy darkness or feeling sweetness of hips
through untamable wildness of the heart chase images
that abide circles of paroxysm ascending from
the mist and raw voices staring spume in the faces
as each star twinkles uncertainty crossing the moon

what is left to slice out of the passage through red light
except old sorrows ready to leap to the bone?
now there’s nothing to hold on to against lies that shade
bondage of nearness and the horizon I couldn’t touch

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Voters’ Tragedy: Four Episodes

i.

Rechristened streets or cities
with Hindu names make no history
nor erase the Muslim past

they assault country’s culture:
diversity of lived glory
politics of pain, joy and care
liberatory future

in hate game add to frozen hearts
no discourse would ever heal:
memories may fade but don’t die
like I die every day, yet live

ii.

I’m an after thought
in my own city
excluded forever

left to strangers’ pleasure
along broken roads
disappearing footpaths

dust and accidents
from construction sites
to stuckness of home

I fracture the spine
of my diaries and lament
life unlived in years

iii.

I can’t hear my self
their noises erase my world
choices are denied-
questions of being wound me
courage and strength fade away

noises mute my voice
distract us from the truth
crowns change with the wind
and they play chess with our lives

they feed us dust and potions
in their new temples
arouse their magic deities
make us yell loud
and hang us upside down

iv.

With divided heart, mind and colors
deluded and dumb millions still blind
to politicians peeling their flesh
layer by layer like onion

take pride in the knife that cuts them to core
get cooked in debris of myths and history
for kites and vultures of caste and sect

now more vulgar breeds of tyrant flourish
yet they don’t care they are gashed peels
the abandoned bodies, the rotten souls

Ram Krishna Singh, also known as R.K. Singh, has been writing for nearly five decades now . Born (31 December 1950), brought up and educated in Varanasi, he has been professionally involved with ELT. A retired Professor at IIT-ISM in Dhanbad, Dr Singh has published 25 poetry collections, including Silencio: Blanca desconfianza: Silence: White distrust (Spanish/English, 2021), Against the Waves: Selected Poems (2021), 白濁: SILENCE: A WHITE DISTRUST (English/Japanese, 2022), Poems and Micropoems (2023), Knocking Vistas And Other Poems (2024), Leaves of Silence (2025), and Drifty Silence and She (2025). Find him on X (Twitter) https://x.com/profrksingh and Facebook www.facebook.com/profrksingh. More at https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/R.K._Singh