Fruit

Beautiful!!!
I read a bit of your ilog and just when I was like, ``Damn!! He says here that he`s gone for good``, I came across this poem and a few other evidences which told me that you`re back here.
*Glad* :)

Apologies for writing in so late. Am in Lahore these days and an internet connection is hard to come by.

temporal, i-am-the-cheese (Paap kaisi thi?), Farzana, Stuka, Urstruly (long time no see; khairiat se hain aap?), khamkhwa, Azure, Samina, Ras, Mittar-jee, Jawahara, Rozy (pick your damn phone up!): thank you all for your very kind words. haven`t been able to write for the longest time and your appreciation means a great deal. am truly glad you liked it!

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Harpreet: as always, you leave me speechless. thank you, yaara, for that awesome praise. hope one day i grow up enough to actually fill those words you so graciously extend to me. when`s the book coming out?

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Hamid sahab: :o)

Good stuff!

The sheesha parlors await your arrival. They are a great source of calm in the wilderness of adult years.

I agree with Harpreet; Aamir has both talent and promise. There was another on chowk who had the same talent and promise - Zehra Rizvi but she has disappeared - pata nai kithay gai mar jaani.

Dost

Hi neighbor.

Aamir, I really, really liked this. A rich, scented, almost ripe poem. I will have to read it many more times to fully appreciate the nuances but I do know I love it.

I think that Aamir Ansari may be the most talented unpublished poet/writer I have ever come across. He should concentrate on writing poetry, putting a collection together and sending it out to get published; preferably in the UK or America. Anything other than this devotion and commitment would be neglect of talent and a cruelty by witholding his art from the masses. The only criticism I would make, actually it is not a criticism at all, rather a preference and an observation, is that I would like to see him attempt to write longer poems, something along the line and length of ``Aubade`` by Phillip Larkin. In fact this is more a suggestion than anything else and he should feel free to ignore it; It is just because I would relish reading what he does with developing his themes and imagery to that length and form.

In the meantime, his poetry speaks for itself. It is sublime and true. He is a true poet. Chowk should put together his greatest hits and give him his own page so they can be read together, as one.

Aamir:
...as they say, sabr ka phal meetha!
I especially liked this:
On a crate of peaches,
Cuddled asleep, cheek to cheek.

Urstruly:
Your proverbs: Looks like your grandparents and mine were neighbours. Were they from Jhelum by any chance? [And I didn`t even know that the language they spoke was hindko!)

Aamir,

your poetry speaks for itself.

Your work is not just sweet as has been described by others.

It is beautiful.

Ras

``...And, scooping out the indignities,
Those dark brown ravages of neglect,
Concoct a sweet riot - a salad for dessert...``

Wonderful.

Yo Aamir, I like peaches! ;-) This poem was just too sweet.

......................

[Cuddled asleep, cheek to cheek.]

...t i think it`s time too...

There is a hindko proverb that explains your poem well. It goes like this ``jad dand hay te daany naiN san, hun daanay haiN par dand naiN``.

An angelicized translation would be `` when i had teeth, I didn`t have nuts; now I have nuts but not the teeth``

[btw by nuts I mean edible nuts and not the other hanging type; well in these days all nuts are edible, so I am told, so let me be more specific, I meant almonds, walnuts etc. and if you go by hindko, the word danay is the kernels of the corn baked in sand]

but you put it better than hindko proverb

HAHA!! I like this. This is the type of poetry I like. Simple and lucid.

Aamir:
Ab kya misaal doon main tumharey khayal ki...bas, you always say it so well.

aamir, this is like your old poetry... simple and so mithi