A Poem by Yoosaph Peram

Violent silence

Your silence
is violence
Sometimes
We shoulder your crime
Of being tender
Your suffering
Your half-baked smile
For all the shadows dark
That kill your life
Your love
Your need
Your dream
Your ecstasy
We turn down
Your plea
For mercy
For delight
For freedom
For duties
We hear your
Whimpering
At the kitchen sink,
Wardrobe
Lightless bed
Moon tide
Hearing it all
We search
Behind the eve
For coziness
Infinite
Unceasing success
Dogged by your
Smell of sweat
Taste of sweet
Papaya
Our paradise
In you
Your hell
In us.

Yoosaph Peram is teaching at university level in Saudi Arabia. He has published a book on Postcolonialism, and is in the process of publishing two translation works. He has published English poetry several magazines including pyrokinection and nostrovia poetry, short stories and essays in translation in Malayalam.