Sky-high pewter pillars But no sky Only a big, ashy wall On which a train might crawl A walkway where people walk faster Than us as we inch forward Behind a truck and a bike and a bus And a white car And a blue car And an auto rickshaw On either side, Construction debris Broken concrete blocks Cement dust And piles of mud Fallen bamboo sticks Torn plastic sheets And sack cloth Brown water droplets Protruding iron rods Hanging wires Numbers stencilled in black on bleak columns 365...

W aking up to the sound of a diesel saw revving In all its glory Dogs barking in fear The smell of saw dust A heavy thud Is it a blessing Or a curse To live near trees and people A paradise lost Oh how the mighty have fallen the pinnacle of creation We've turned it upside down We reek of an illicit power Trees on the ground Steel in the sky Smoke in the air Where have all the birds gone?

Plants and trees use the wind to their advantage Dispersing seeds of many sizes into lands far and wide Some look like flowers, some look like pebbles, Some look like little thorns and some stick to fur. The seeds land on ground, get buried deep, Affix themselves in feathers of birds Some on boulders and in thorny fields, They’re resilient, always trying to push through Tiny spaces and dark crevices, Some break open into the soil, They spring up into many species small and large, Sprouting,...