Voices Within: Sanjeev Sethi

Sanjeev Sethi is the author of three books of poetry. His most recent collection is This Summer That Summer (Bloomsbury, 2015). He is published in more than 25 countries. Recent credits: Talking Writing, Poydras Review, Miller’s Pond, Litbreak, Red Savina Review, The Piker Press, Poetry Super Highway, Formercactus, The Five-Two, Datura Literary Journal, Amethyst Review, Ethos Literary Journal, and elsewhere. He lives in Mumbai, India.

Year-End Musings

To be a memorist is to ail. Lucky

are those who draw a blank. Faster

it seems to be moving, finer is the

phase. If it begins with a smackeroo,

it’s swell, if not you’ve another 364

days. When canorous tonalities mono-

polize: the thoroughfare is convivial.

It’s alimentative to be swaddled in

sanctified fare.

Key

Traumas are parked in carports across 

cells of the body. Unused machinery

has its idiom: one, it is slow to rev up.

Ephemera like injury outlives its utility.

Are postmortems for the mauled? 

Smooth drives settle most dictions.

Postulation

Rent, this remoteness nods psychedelic

frames on mure to flag animation of a

new association. Sardined whereabouts

thrust the mind towards you. Purported

to be pard in absentia?

Compulsive need to splash, the showiness

removes me from your resume. Not litotes

but restraint. Subtlety is strength: announce

onset without announcements. My other love

must dial back.

Procedure

When pellets from their paradise

crack open strands, I instruct

myself to be buoyant. I domicile

in hallowed doctrines. Nothing

happens. I must be a recreant

devotee, I tell myself. I maturate

the moment I gain plenaries with

self. This isn’t a onetime-act. It’s

a process. One never grows up.

Champers

Nicety and nuance pad fissures

to ensue a fusillade of feelings

spill over into various forms.

Symmetry in stanza croons to

core: my hygiene to happiness.

Voices Within - Complete List of Poets :: Setu, January 2019