Balloons have always
had envy and malice
towards bubbles.
Transience hollowness meaninglessness-
are these anyone’s private property?

The oil lamp the plantain leaf
heaped nazhi1 0
de-husked coconut kadali1 1 banana
the incense stick
balloon!

New trajectories for desires
new submarines of deceit
jubilee reports of wars
the obituaries of conciliation talks
the open eyes of the suicide revolutionary;
the pupils of his eyes glow
in the outer sea
in the windless night of the sailor
of the sinking ship-
the rudders of future broken.

Children scream at night
dreaming of newspapers:
come inside, tell me
what has happened inside this tent

II

On the seventh day
having nothing else to do
God took a pinch from sky earth
and all the creatures
mixed it with promises dreams
and a little rubber
and He created the balloon
in the form of celestial spheres
or certain fruits and vegetables.

Adam and Eve blew that forbidden balloon
and lo! What did we lose?
Paradise.

III

Master
what is this balloon?
I asked the thinker.
Child, I knew it till you asked me
come, lend a hand to this head
let me lift it to my shoulder

IV

No seeds in a balloon
something that can be planted?
But look
a balloon’s maiden inflation
the balloon-toddlers learning to fly
the exhausted balloon-hags

the multicoloured balloons that flew above
the dark palm-tops on the yakshi1 2-hill 
now ears close to thorns
they lie in wait for the footfalls of wind.

V

In A.D 1955 in Avadi1 3
Chacha Nehru1 4 blew a balloon
and gave it to his children and grandchildren to play.
Someone has flown across the Atlantic in a balloon.
UN’s balloon over west Asia.

In the Security Council
Russia’s dart of a look
pricked America’s balloon.
The greatest balloon tragedy in history!
China’s veto!
The balloon shreds get stuck in the throats
of the third world nations.

Balloon planets
Balloon eclipses:

Never look at the sky
with naked eyes.