Poems - JP Melville

One day, in a land far, far away, Bhutan… memories jp melville Stillness. The heat basks among us, the sunlight dances in the doorway of our mud and wood house.   The scent of dust in the air.   Somewhere high above the towering mountains blue skies stretched, scattered with white cloud.   A motionlessness penetrating the forest from above the house etching all around us down to the river below. Who were we then?   Somewhere, elsewhere, she not there in that moment, a woman with whom I was then living. Herself now a memory.   My son, who tonight as I write this sleeps in my bed with his books spilled around him.   My daughter, also with me tonight, fast asleep in her own room, who then upon this memory was in utero, to join us in time to come. And Pema. I sat in the doorway of our house, my feet on the landing, my back leaning against the hinges, absorbing warmth, listening to the buzzing of flies, sipping my sweet tea, wat...

Impact 9/11 Azerbaijan Istanbul Airport jp melville I think, therefore my thought exists. Powerless in all that exists around me. Powerful in perception, how I am perceived. Choice, deliberation, has little if anything to do with it. I am. I’m ready. Yes I exist. Anyone exists. The philosophers who wish to dispute this are they themselves a mute point. Flowing like a stream, energy flowing like a stream. I, shaping the plastic world around me. The world shaping me as I lose all. Entering dark night of the soul. Willing I go. And my flight begins to board. I put my pen away. My book in my briefcase. Gather my travel bag. Armed in mind, eyes on all. And walk toward the gate.

Enfolding This Mumbai 2001 jp melville Sleeping curled tightly on top of crumbling walls Bundles of ragged cloth, bodies, men Woman squatting, scrubbing, washing clothes Sidewalk transformed as washboard People ‑ public, private lives moulded into nakedness no colour, colourless lives of dust and grime. Street sides cracked curbs Rusted railings Muck of wash water, sewage flowing listlessly in the gutter Surprise, two churches ‑ one Catholic, one Evangelist A Hindu temple pressed in among peeling buildings Discovery hidden in a nameless alley ‑ a wedding, a tent, sense of colour splash of bright red and yellows, greens. What a multitude Every space packed with busyness, dwellings Shacks and shanties, cardboard and sisal cloth Five floor apartments, relics of the past with shuttered balconies ‑ natural air Modern glass buildings ‑ electricity dependent Printed paper advertisements plastered on portals, picke...

A Smile Whisper jp melville i saw a smile whisper, for a moment in a smiling face to have known, in a few short breaths to have been loved honestly, to have been desired gently and when the whisper faded in the pounding rush of memories a different smile arrived in a saddened face

Missionaries jp You may not know us We the modern day missionaries Of the rational mind. Our institutions are familiar, The World Bank The United Nations CARE OXFAM World Vision The list goes on and on. We are the rural economists, Macro-economy experts Municipal planners, Civil engineers, Social health advisors, Agronomists, Emergency aid coordinators, Educators, And more. We deal in matters of consequence: Food deficits and drought, Trade barriers and trade agreements, Globalisation, Deforestation, Inequality, Child labour, Female circumcision, And more. We deal in poverty, Calling   people beneficiaries, Target populations, Recipients, Communities, The urban poor, And more. In rare moments, I have known my people to look out over the landscape, Through the mirages of states and governments, Into a world without human order, Only the shifting sands of power. Brie...