Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Love & Regards Nothing Touches?
Using the folding hands emoji
You told me not to make a call;
I thought the cause of it will be
Forthcoming, but I was wrong
I wonder if it is the arrogance
Of isolation or a nagging sense
Of being questioned unjustly
That you choose to remain aloof.
Trust is a reliable bridge to bind us
Into unsuspecting relationships, but
Sharing the cause of keeping quiet
Or the reason for long silences —
Even so slightly pull curtains of mind
And look at how the other minds work!
You must not be the only one to look
At the mirror into which you reflect.
To surmise that nothing touches you
May betray in spirit pride in contentment,
Yet how can you overlook how others
Suffer being touched in mind or in body?
Sanity Prevails
From a safe distance I watch
The procession is volatile and
A few break away to act the mob.
Banging a steel shutter with rods
They pull open the provision store
Loot and arson being carried out
I walk to a cop as if an official
In authority, citizen awake as hero!
‘With such a crowd, what can I do? ‘
The air is thick with premonitions
Of the worse just waiting to happen.
I ride my bike and rush myself to
The site of Police Station Master!
‘ Don’t you know what’s happening in
The market, people in disorder?
No one is safe, mob seems to rule! ‘
I stand stranded in my sudden sense
Of propriety; my own locus standi?
I could very well be dragged and told
To sit in a corner till report is written.
Sanity tells how the anger was natural
A dear leader has been assassinated.
Someone put it with a mechanical wit,
The earth shakes when a big tree falls
Artificial Intelligence
Geoffery Hinton invents the trajectory
For man to stand by Artificial Intelligence,
A breakthrough as good as electricity,
Yet entrenched with fear that it could
‘Wipe humanity’, yet may anchor military
And economic endeavors with super
Benefits, what conflicting hazards man
Has to confront and resolve for survival?
Even as Geoffrey takes the Nobel but
Chooses to resign his post at Google,
And pursue all his efforts with energy
To work out safety measures against
The use of AI by the power hungry or by
A despot in depression of his losses
Spell out artificial intelligence as his own.
Will it be atomic regrets of an Einstein?
Dr Lalit Mohan Sharma, born in 1952, has published ten books of English poetry which include ‘Man with A Horn’, ‘Eyes of Silence’ and ‘There’s No Death’. His book, A Three- Step Journey, is English translation of Zahid’s Urdu poems. ‘Icicles of Time’ is the latest in 2024.
Sharma was conferred with ‘Master of Creative Impulse’ at World Poetry Conference in 2019.
A former Principal, Government College, Dharamshala, he has been anthologised in several books of poetry, stories and such books of academic interest as 21st Century Critical Thought : A Dialogue with Post-Modern Voices Vol I, (2020), A Handbook of Contemporary Ethics, (2024), Ed by Molly Joseph and JS Anand
