Three Poems by Sunil Sharma: "Cries in an Urban Jungle," "Lap Comforting" and "Street Aesthetics"

Sunil Sharma is Mumbai, India, based critic, literary editor and author with 19 published books, including six collections of poetry. He is a recipient of the UK-based Destiny Poets’ inaugural Poet of the Year award for 2012. His poems have been published in the UN project: Happiness: The Delight-Tree: An Anthology of Contemporary International Poetry. He edits the English section of the monthly bilingual journal Setu, published from Pittsburgh. Visit his webpage at http://www.setumag.com/p/setu-home.html or his blog at
http://www.drsunilsharma.blogspot.in/.

Cries in an Uban Jungle

The caw-caw of a crow
perched on a canopy, this
summer morning,
sounds familiar

to a child,

chin resting on tiny hands,
eyes, red

looking out of a silent apartment

same vertical neighbourhood
of the rushed Mumbai.

Gently cries
for mom

commuting long distance
in an overcrowded local train
ears plugged in,

mind unable to delete
the teary face of the
kid, locked in.




Lap Comforting

The shirtless vagabond
sleeps on

the bare earth
under a graying-gnarled tree
at the corner of a street
full of noise and fumes
of the restive automobiles

the lips
black, parched

murmuring:
mother, mother

in a deep sleep
denied to many.




Street Aesthetics

Chalk circles
drawn diligently
over broken surfaces
by hands annoymous

geometrical patterns
that
tend to diminish

the harshness of tar,

and
change the neglected urban space
into beautiful piece of public art.




Sunil Sharma