Poems of Beautiful Portrait and Landscape by Feby Joseph

Postcards from Dammam

Sun looms supreme in sands frozen in time

Barely moving – it lays down, arms and all

Defeated and prostrate – the world around

Liquid silver mirage; flying Dutchman of desert.

The distant calls of a minaret dividing the silence –

Gentle call – Allah… divine and pure as the sands

And only the sands can carry that call to Him.

Still lies the desert, gateway to heaven.

At dusk, city-children of the Bedouin heed the calls

Of their forefathers; drive their four-wheelers

Off the modern tar roads into a blue, lazy desert

To step into the past once again in large tents.

Deep in the desert a tribe settles in – air rich with

With the scent of sweet tea and rice and roasting meat;

Still music of a serene Oud strumming gratitude

And thousand echoes of Bi-smi llāh perfuming a night.

A family Portrait in December

A Mumbai December is a curious beast –

Like an October child that never quite grows

It carries the ubiquitous heat through in sharp contrast

To the snow filled Christmas movies I watch on my laptop.

My father smiles perennially through a sheen of dust

As if that is the only emotion he ever mastered,

Keeping in rhythm of the climatic status quo

As an unseasonable Satie tinkles in the background…

My mother cocoons herself into another evening

In the velvety words of television theologists

(There’s nothing new to report there!)

As I shut the door to another Alleluia; Another evening.

My brother connects, once again through social media

To share images of cute foxes and owls.

And we reminiscent and laugh on borrowed anecdotes

As a spider weaves on the elephant tusk hanging on the wall.

© Feby Joseph

Biography :Hailing from the beautiful South Indian state of Kerala, India, Feby Joseph describes himself as a spiritual vagabond. He is currently working as a Piano teacher in Mumbai. Feby is the winner of Reuel International Prize, Poetry, 2020. Some of his works have appeared on Café Dissensus, Foreign Literary Journal and The Bangalore Review.

Photo Courtsey : Peter Thomas