Random Poetry - A.K.Ramanujam

Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan (1929-1993) was an author who wrote in both
English and Kannada. Ramanujan wore many hats as an author: he was a
playwright, folklorist, philologist, translator, and poet. In his academic work
as a scholar of literature he drew on his skills as a producer of literature.
His academic research ranged across four Indian languages: Tamil, Kannada,
Telugu and Sanskrit. He published about both classical and modern variants of
these literatures and also argued strongly for giving local, non-standard
dialects their due.

- Introduction courtesy www.wikipedia.com

What he said
What could my mother be

To yours? What kin is my father

To yours anyway? And how

Did you and I meet ever?But in love

Our hearts have mingled

Like red earth and pouring rain

- Translation of a Sangam poetry by A.K.Ramanujam

Still Life
When she left me

after lunch, I read

for a while.

But I suddenly wanted to look again

and I saw the half-eaten

sandwich,bread,lettuce and salami,all carrying the shape

of her bite.

- Original poem by A.K. Ramanujam

Self-Portrait
I resemble everyone

but myself, and sometimes see

in shop-windows

despite the well-known laws

of optics,

the portrait of a stranger,date unknown,

often signed in a corner

by my father.

- Original poem by A.K. Ramanujam