1. |
Remember
02:53
|
|||
|
REMEMBER
Memories crumpled like
discarded bits of paper
drift back slowly
beads of sugarcane sweat
on roadside glasses
thick as slabs of ice
on days that smell
of salty sea
and clammy winds
of roasted groundnuts crackling
alive in tired newspaper cones
healing walks on streets
flushed with gulmohar
right up to our cheeks
as we hold real time
in our hands
and speak of real things
while the winds will not return
and the smell of rain on
earth is changing
it still rains
and rains
|
||||
2. |
Visitors
01:22
|
|||
|
VISITORS
Come summer and the nondescript
window is festooned with fiery
pomegranate blossom
feasted on by sunbirds chittering
their silky blue heads away
bent on extracting sweetness
with fluid movements
in the searing heat
It’s a small window in time
before the rains raise the curtain
lash cool
to fan the sweat invested
in those ripe arils
straining against their smooth hides
unveiled in a drenched
piece of pomegranate sky
sighing for a presence
now flown
|
||||
3. |
Spaces
02:52
|
|||
|
There is a narrow
space between
the rise and fall
of a foot that can
bend your path.
A slice of uncertainty
between syllables,
chinks in a cat’s
spring, cool sweeps
amidst summer’s
sharp splinters
under an Indian elm,
respite between
raindrops that soak
you to the skin,
wedges within
happenings.
You can hear the
glowing spaces
between old
people's thoughts,
often hiding
behind their words.
What seems as
inevitable as the
spin on which
life depends,
is spiked with
hair-breadths
of unfixed
spaces
tiptoeing into the
unknown.
|
||||
4. |
The Cuckoo Clock
01:48
|
|||
|
Pipes and bellows whittle us
to half-hours a pendulum
murmurs rich linden wood
moorings through
a home-brewed history with
stirrings of first days at school
split open grins on jagged new teeth
craggy lessons on bruised knees
dog and cat kisses mellowing
thick crusted stains in the
decades that flow from the
single-arched door
attesting our faith in the way
we balanced the weights to
become who we still are becoming
|
||||
5. |
Quietude
02:23
|
|||
|
Alone and healing
away from bruising humanity
a transient feeling
of deep fulfilment
Sometimes love
self-destructs with its own knife
it’s a one-way trip
through the stock exchange of life
A jaded spirit
drinks at the springs of solitude
while unabated
storms brew on the fringe
of quietude
|
||||
6. |
Constant
02:38
|
|||
|
A smudge on the horizon
you took a leap of faith
sped away in darkness
towards the strokes of dawn
flashing across silence
rest forever in the comfort
you brought home
now that the road has drawn you
along uncharted bends
you ripple through the wind
on my mind and
in the dust of remembrance
softly filling the old places
that have taken on your colour
you shine constant
|
||||
Aman Mahajan India
Indian pianist-composer Aman Mahajan plays improvised music as a medium of exploration, expression and exchange.
amanmahajanmusic.com
Aman Mahajan recommends:
If you like poetry at the piano, you may also like:
New Zealand saxophonist Jeremy Rose hits us with an LP full of nimble jazz with noir-y melodies.
go to album
Celebrated pianist and bandleader Joey Alexander comes into his own as a jazz composer on his debut release.
go to album
Acclaimed jazz pianist and composer pivots from supporting player to bandleader, joined by a quintet of New York powerhouses.
go to album
Thank You, Duke!
by Arkadia Jazz All-Stars
The Arkadia Jazz All-Stars deliver a low-lit, elegant take on Duke Ellington classics, each note delivered with tenderness and grace.
go to album
