Three Poems

by Sanjeev Sethi

Ex Libris

Winsome covers were never attached

to my bibliotheca.

Scars as souvenirs

kept their pace.

Very early on in the reading

I warned myself:

If you do not accept

your bookplate, no one will.

When shrinkage is the leitmotif

of the script, you glisk:

It isn’t a champion’s trajectory

but quieting a series of setbacks.

I worked as a villain

in my library.

It is a byproduct

of a certain shorthand.

Cookery 

Home: where I am without

prying eyes or hands.

Where the head is unruffled,

where happy approximations intersect,

and one of them is cast

on mind’s kitchenette

to mince and marinate

a juicy kebab-like poem.

Turn

Setting one’s cap for

whoever it was;

the artisanal snacks,

front-row seats, and colognes,

turn lessons forever.

Shade or sunlight,

one can never sweep certain spots.

It is best to accept this

and save oneself from cold sweat.

There is no oath, no receipts,

but your breath,

your kiss below my collar,

reasons to revere

the palpability of stopovers

for years;

makes our chime

more prized than

all the available scores.

BIO: Sanjeev Sethi has authored seven books of poetry. His latest is Wrappings in Bespoke (The Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK, August 2022). He has been published in over thirty countries. His poems have found a home in more than 400 journals, anthologies, and online literary venues. He edited Dreich Planet #1, an anthology for Hybriddreich, Scotland, in December 2022. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. He was recently conferred the 2023 Setu Award for Excellence. He lives in Mumbai, India.

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