Commission For Pennie

Commission for Penny

I rob 2% of electricity
from the small villages,
I take away 2% sunlight
from the flourishing plants,
I snatch 2% rain,
2% water from lakes,
I steal 2% of flesh
from the lions;
I plunder 2% of prayers.
I sell 2% of my integrity
everyday

My ancestors are in pain;
the legacy that filled them
with pride has gone
to the dogs

But they will be alright:
I will transfer them 1%.

By Jay Gandhi

A Penny Drop

must never happen.
We must always be misunderstood
to communicate clearly and cogently.

Wrong end of the stick grasped firmly.
Vagueness is clarity.

If you let the penny drop confusion
and disillusion will result.

Please misunderstand me.

By Paul Brookes

Commission for pennie… Love bound architecture, lavish  mughal royalty, ancestral, poetry for pennies, ruined in dominions, colonised, two centuries to Shakespeare’s maturity, how many more to A. Iqbal’s?   Commissioned literature deliberate? Perhaps embedded falsehood, trusted legacy confirmed, but history often is but distorted. Repeats itself in vain.

Colors, in water, rare reflections of emotions, of efforts endless, often in darkness defined… Jaded pale stones, oils, a mixed media, priceless, commisioned for pennies, what pieces of art undiscovered, melodies unheard, for pennies in low moods maintained, painted, dabbed on eager canvases, hung on lonely easels, hidden in artrooms abandoned… Awaiting the sunlight of truthful recognition… Vain legacy in history

By Anjum Wasim Dar