POETIC NOESIS- A Personal Poetry Blog by Dr Javed Alam
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-​Poetic Noesis-
A Poetry Blog
-Dr Javed Alam-

Silence- a poem by Javed Alam

31/10/2020

 
Silence

We must always have a place
In our homes, in our offices, 

Behind our shops, 
To discover the silence, 

To open the casks 
Hidden in the recesses

Of our minds.
We
must always have a place 

To go into ourselves, hear
The 
hum of our souls, 

Discover the corals
In the basement of our minds,


And alight from the ships 
Laden with our, dark, past. 

Even a prophet, away 
From the hustle and bustle 

Of Mecca,  would climb 
The Mountain of Light, 

To meditate in the Cave Hira, 
To know the unknown.

©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

I order my heart to be patient-a poem by Javed Alam

27/9/2020

 
I order my heart to be patient 
 
"And I ordered my heart to be patient:
Be neutral as if you were not mine!" 
                                               -Mahmoud Darwish 


As the hands of time remove 
The veil from their schemes; 
 
As the new breed 
Of foxes, hiding

Behind a forest of people, raise 
Their heads;
 
As the new legion 
Of peacocks 

Master the craft 
Of seducing the marketplace;
 
As the silver footed, democracy, princess 
Turns into a bondmaid;
 
I order my heart to be patient.
As the butterflies of change
 
Spread the pollen 
Of fear and hostility;

As the herd mind gets intoxicated 
By the opium 
 
Of "Us versus Them"; 
As the amygdala overrides 

The frontal cortex; 
I order my heart to be patient

©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

I create a royal road to my misery- a poem by Javed Alam

1/8/2020

 
I create a royal road to my misery

I create a royal road to my misery:
When I judge myself,
When I judge others;

When I am oblivious 
Of my thoughts,
My emotions,
My senses, 
My actions;

When I live
in my past, in my future. 
When I ignore my present.

I create a royal road to my misery:


When I intoxicate the air of life 
By complaining, by comparing,
By criticising;

When I am unforgiving,
Ungrateful,
Unkind,
And wrapped up in myself.

©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

COVID-19: a poem by Javed Alam

17/6/2020

 
COVID-19

​When gloves and masks

became our daily attires,
and aeroplanes were grounded

like birds with broken wings;
when love lost its sensuality,
and the frost of isolation

gnawed on our souls;
when no one prayed
in mosques and churches,

and no one attended
birthdays, weddings,
and funerals;

when death rode swiftly,
secretly, on the wings
of an invisible monster,

and danced in the crevices
of our, gasping, lungs;
when time, unlived, turned stale

like unused fruits in our fridges,
and no one noticed
a blooming spring;

when we spent our days
and nights, idling, talking
about angst and boredom,

about deaths and wills,
about the spread
of a contagion;

​we all clung to the straw of life
with hand washing,
and social distancing.

29/04/2020
©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

How I saw you- a poem by Javed Alam

5/6/2020

 
How I saw you

How I saw you, a new age Cleopatra 
With an Instagram profile,  
Standing on the steps of a Sufi mausoleum.
A solitary moon, over the Baḥr Al-Nil,
Surrounded by longing, stars, followers. 
A revelation, pregnant with 
Beauty, mischief, mystery, and wisdom. 
How I saw you, a blessing, delivered
On the sill of the stretched nights, 
To read you like a poem, to watch you 
Move your hands and lips,
To see the magic, unveiling, in your playful eyes,
To smell your, inner, fragrance,
To taste your, Mediterranean, mellowness,
To hear you like an Azan. 
How I discovered you carrying, a soul
Of the Anath , roses in one hand and a lance in another. 
How I saw you becoming
A sprinkle of dew 
For the arid fields of my mind.
How I saw you triggering 
A new Odyssey 
Filled with Pyramids of joy and tribulations.

-Notes 
1. Bahr Al-Nil is an Arabic name for the River Nile 
2. Anath (Anat) was a Semitic goddess of love and war.

©https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

Sorrows- a poem by Javed Alam

1/5/2020

 
​Sorrows

You stretch your cloak
Of gloom, intermittently,
Across our lives.

You fill the sacks
Of our souls
With gnawing blues and tears.

You reveal
Our helplessness
Before the Fortune,

Her merciless darts.
Yet you unveil
Our courage

To withstand adversity;
Water our seeds
Of compassion.


©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

We often forget- a poem by Javed Alam

1/3/2020

 
We often forget

We often forget
the fallacies of our Reason,
the limitations of our Free Will,
the truth of our impermanence,

our finite existence 
in an infinite universe.
We often forget 
we did not exist, for 

an infinite time, before our birth;
we would cease to exist, for 
an infinite time, after our death.
We often forget 

we are not the centre 
of this indifferent universe;
there is no person, 
or any deity, to ensure

we are all dealt fairly or justly.
We are all vessels, meat 
vessels, full of anxiety, 
prejudice, and vanity.

©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

Time is going to come- a poem by Javed Alam

1/2/2020

 
Time is going to come 

Time is going to come 
When we won't be able to call 
A fig tree a fig tree;

An orange tree an orange tree;
Or an olive tree an olive tree;
Because a willow tree 

Will take an offense, cry 
Discrimination, 
And demand 

We call everyone 
A tree.
©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

Solitude- a poem by Javed Alam

1/1/2020

 
Solitude 

Go and enter your solitude
You may discover 
The unexplored terrain 

Within, you may 
Untie the knots 
Of your mind, your life.

You may discover, inner 
Ghettos, the origin of your 
Beliefs, biases, and fears.

Go and enter your solitude.
You may stumble upon
Words, moments, smells, people,

And find the answer to many questions.
You may uncover, a silence, 
A womb of bliss

And creativity. Even if 
You find a dark, frightening, cave
You will find a way to Illuminate it.

Even if you find a gnawing fox,
You will find a way 
To tame it, to domesticate it. 

Even if you find rusted iron 
Bars, in the dark alleys of your mind, 
You will find a way to mould them 

Into an armour,
Into a lance, 
To fight your demons.

©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

Perhaps it is not your famed beauty- a poem by Javed Alam

1/12/2019

 
Perhaps it is not your famed beauty
 
(In her absence, I created her image - Mahmoud Darwish)
 
Perhaps it is not your famed beauty
Creating this absence. Perhaps 
It is waking up to familiar faces, walking 
In familiar streets; hearing 

An Azaan, or Guru Granth Sahib 
In your neighbourhoods. 
Perhaps it is feasting 
On a Wazwan, or enjoying lamb skewers 

At Khayam Chowk, or maybe
It is blathering with friends 
On a bridge railing, in a college 
Canteen, or in a paint shop.

Perhaps it is strolling
On that, amorous, residency road,
Or growing up listening poetry 
Of Sheikh-ul-Alam 
 
And Habba Khatoon.
Maybe it is the joy 
Of Eid shopping, and lining up 
In front of grandfather 
 
For the Eidi.
Maybe it is the aroma 
Of fresh bread, and the taste 
Of Nun chai, in our mornings.
 
Maybe it is your women tying 
Their prayer threads, whispering 
Their modest wishes, to the mausoleums 
Of your Sufi saints. 

Or maybe it is hearing 
Shameema Dev, on Radio 
Kashmir, sing. 
Maybe it is just watching 

Your face, in every season, without 
Carrying the sack 
Of longing in our hearts.
Perhaps your memories 

Shall continue to orbit
Around our yearning souls,
Like satellites, until eternity.
Perhaps all this excavation 

Of memories, this leaning
On our history, this living 
In the past, is the story
Of every uprooted plant.
Notes-
  • Wazwan- a Kashmiri cuisine 
  • Sheikh-ul-Alam - A highly revered Sufi saint and a poet of Kashmir 
  • Habba Khatoon- She was the last queen and celebrated poetess of Kashmir. 
  • Eidi-  a Muslim tradition to give small sums of money (Eidi) to children on an Eid day.
©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

O my unruly mind- a poem by Javed Alam

1/10/2019

 
O my unruly mind

O my unruly mind
I ceaselessly try to harness 
your unruliness
with the rationality 

of philosophy, 
with the objectivity 
of science, with
the finality of holy texts.

I try to tame you 
with the magic 
of poetry, with the rituals 
of faith, with the wisdom of sages:

I even try to order
with the art of mindfulness, 

with the habit of journaling, 
with the promise of houris; 

yet you always find
a way, out of every bridle, 
with your habitual conniving, 
monkey tricks, and reptile winding.

©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/
​

Who Am I- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/8/2019

 
Who am I ?  

Cutting a long story short:
A patchwork.

Made of incongruous pieces: 
My genes and my family,
My culture and faith,
My town and country,
My successes and failures,

Their beauty, their ugliness;

My education and my work, 
My friends and leaders, 
My travels and leisures, 
Their inclusiveness, their exclusiveness;

All seamed together 
In the circuitry of my brain.

I am an ever-changing 
Medley, I contain 
Multitudes, dyed 
By every experience. 
​
(Poet's Espresso Review- USA)

We are often lost- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/7/2019

 
We are often lost
​

We are often lost,
in the thickness 

of thin things,
in the weed

of our thoughts. 
We often treading

through life

like ants tread

on an elephant:
close 
to the skin, busy


in the wrinkles, yet
completely oblivious

of the whole elephant, 
of the big picture.

(The Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine- UK)
©️ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

Despite all grandiosity- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/4/2019

 
​Despite all grandiosity 

Despite all grandiosity, 
all exaggerations, about 
Human rationality; 

despite all wisdom
of Socrates, Plato, 
and Aristotle; 

despite all discoveries,
inventions, 
and every human stride; 

majority of our actions
run on an autopilot, looking
for shortcuts, 

by-passing reason,
by-passing awareness.

(Poets Espresso Review-USA)

You are always with me- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/3/2019

 
You are always with me 

You are always with me 
During my joys, during my grief,
Like my breath, like my heartbeat, 
Like the marrow in my bones, 
Unlike the soul that abandons during the sleep.
Despite all space 
All mountains, all seas, spread between us
I carry you as a cask of memories,
As a vial of saffron leaves, as a sachet 
Of Nun Chai leaves,
As a collection of souvenirs,
As a playlist of folk songs.
I remember you everywhere.....
In every meadow,
During every snowfall.
I see you everywhere...
On the forehead of every mountain,
On the face of every lake,
On the leaf of every Chinar .
I see you
in the language
Of my college friends
, their jokes, their dreams;
In my mother's dress, in her tea, in her worries.
Where ever I drift, where ever I run 
I return to you,
Like a wave at the shore returns to a sea.
@ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

I remember her- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

28/2/2019

 
I remember her

I remember her very well, a woman 
with a lack of restraint, 
pacing around in anxiety, in agitation;
carrying a fear 
of being abandoned by everyone, 
carrying an emptiness, a black hole, within. 

I remember her mercurial nature,
her lack of healthy boundaries with people,

her ambiguity about her goals and ideals,
her coquetries, her impulsivity, 
all gnawing the fabric 
of her simmering soul.

She called her days 
living on a roller coaster.

Her troubled early life 
nudged her to see things 
through a black and white paradigm.
She struggled to tolerate 
the grey shades, motley traits,
in human nature, in a single person.


I remember her pattern 
of unstable relationships,
her idealising and hating the same person 
within a short period, 
her pushing away the people 
she wants or needs in her life, 
​her lack of close friends, 
her random encounters with strangers, 

her spending sprees.

I remember her longing, desperation,
to fill her frightening emptiness 
with an enduring healthy relationship.
But she did not know the art of weaving
the fabric
of enduring relationships.

She had mastered the craft 
of draining the patience, the energy, 

of her family, and friends.

The tempests, within, drove her 
to kitchen drawers,
cliffs, drugs, rooftops, alien streets.

I remember her distorted self- image,
her doubts, her guilt, her denials, 
her streak of grandiosity;

her struggles to follow her treatments.

Yes, we did not let her wander in wilderness, 
and we promised to ourselves:
we will help her to work 
on her immediate and long term goals,  
on regulating her emotions, on practicing
mindfulness, on nourishing 

the healthy relationships, on finding a purpose to live,
​on becoming a rudder for her turbulent ship.

(2019)


(this a small attempt to demystify borderline/ emotionally unstable personality to raise awareness about this condition. This is a fictional account based on my encounter with hundreds of patients with this condition).

(The Beautiful Space- A Journal of Mind, Art and Poetry 2019)
©https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

I sing a song for those- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/10/2018

 
I sing a song for those 

Who are full of energy and fairness,
Full of love juice, and dreams;
Who are not afraid of failures;

Who walk with both arms and legs 
To climb an arduous summit,
To create history with their strides; 

Who jump into turbulent waters 
To collect treasures from the sea bed.
I sing a song for those 

Who burn books to light new paths, 
Who dismantle the idols 
Of dogma, inequality and injustice;

Who burn old bridges to carry a nation 
On their strong, just, arms.
I sing a song for those

Who have cleared the dross of bigotry 
From their hearts; whose  clamour
Disturbs the sleep of fascists and tyrants;

Who adorn the forehead of the life 
With their ideals, loves and impulsivity, 
With their dissent, valour and sensitivity.

©drjal02
(The Fable Online-USA)

O my soul- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/9/2018

 
​O my soul
 
O my strained soul,  long have I dreamt about
Seeing you fly joyously; high above the cloud.
Long have I known your gravity-defying nature
With an inherent longing to fly to your creator.
Long have you moved like a crawling reptile
Collecting dust, grime and shame in the exile.
O my squatting soul, long have I seen a shame
In your eyes; loaded with heaps of self blame.
Long did I try to freeze my dragons for your joy,
To set you free, from the heavy fetters, to enjoy.
Long have I invoked you to glide like a bird
Away from the green grazing of this goat herd;
Look straight into the eyes of a noontide sun, 
With your winged feet; and go for a higher run.
Enough of this squatting, cringing and crawling,
Rise and dust off your wings for an inner calling.

(2013)

(Gushing Fountain-USA)

A paint shop- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/8/2018

 
A paint shop

A local meeting point, 
Like a coffee shop, near 

A bridge, where he sat 
Behind a counter, with shoulders of an ox, selling

His dreams, his colours. 
Like a lighthouse, in our youth, for watching 

College girls, and political fireworks.
An address for our letters,

For meeting our friends,
For colouring our paradigms. 

Like an Epicurean Garden 
To discuss our ideals,  cricket, 

Movies, and music; 
To sketch rainbows, 

With the hands of time, 
On our Tabula Rasa.

(for Majid Toth)


I know a place- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/6/2018

 
I know a place 

I know a place 
where the sting of poverty 
is hurting its soul, 

gnawing its marrow, 
leaving it anaemic, ragged, 
and tired. 

Where poor people die 
with their unfulfilled dreams 
of eating enough food, drinking clean water 

and living under a roof; 
where affluent people,
with their refrigerated souls, live 

in a bubble of privilege.
I know a place 
where corruption has creeped 

into it's DNA, 
where corruption is practiced 
at an Olympic scale, 

where corrupt people 
are honoured 
like Olympic medal winners.

(The Lakeview-International Journal of Art and Literature)

Of women- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/4/2018

 
Of Women 

I know you are a blessing.
Soft as snow, hard
As a pomegranate.
The God's light: carrying his beauty, 
Kindness, and glow.
I know you are 
A cloak for his imperfections,
A fig tree for his appetites,
A sea of patience. 
I know there is a degree
Of unpredictability, a streak 
Of randomness, in your temperament.
I know you have a majestic 
Essence, like the Quantum World,
Shrouded in mystery.

(Authors Press Anthology-India), (Poet's Espresso Review- USA)

Of wind- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/2/2018

 
Of wind

I have seen you blowing

A blade of grass, a bed 
Of tulips, a flower basket 
Hanging at the front door, 
Clothes on a washing line, 
The silk of her hair.

I have seen you moving
A boat at the beachfront,
An aeroplane by a tailwind, 
Things caught in a whirlwind.
I have heard you, howl 
During a tempest, speak 

Through a flute.
I have felt your touch 
Like the stroke of a feather. 
Yet your enigmatic face, 
Like a black hole, remains 
All hidden from our eyes.

©️drjal02
(The Lakeview-International Journal of Art and Literature)

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    These poems have been previously published in various literary  journals, magazines, books and anthologies around the globe including the UK, the USA, Ireland and Canada.

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    List of Poems

    All
    A Dream - A Poem
    An Attic Hand- A Poem
    A Paint Shop- A Poem
    A Patient Note- A Poem
    As I Sit In A Room Thinking- A Poem
    COVID-19: A POEM
    Despite All The Grandiosity- A Poem
    Emptiness- A Poem
    Grandfather- A Poem
    Home- A Poem
    How I Saw You- A Poem
    How To Be Happy- A Poem
    I Create A Royal Road To My Misery- A Poem
    I Know A Girl- A Poem
    I Know A Place- A Poem
    I Love Dreaming- A Poem
    I No Longer Talk About- A Poem
    I Order My Heart To Be Patient- A Poem
    I Remember Her- A Poem
    I Sing A Song For Those- A Poem
    It Hurts- A Poem
    It Is Not Every Day- A Poem
    Like A Poem- A Poem
    Mango People- A Poem
    O Dreams- A Poem
    Of Man- A Poem
    Of Wind- A Poem
    Of Women- A Poem
    O Life- A Poem
    O My Soul- A Poem
    O My Unruly Mind- A Poem
    Once Again- A Poem
    Our Brain- A Poem
    Perhaps-it-is-not-your-famed-beauty-a-poem
    Proem- A Poem
    Silence- Apoem
    Social Media - A Poem
    Solitude- A Poem
    Sorrows- A Poem
    There Again- A Poem
    Time Is Going To Come- A Poem
    We Are Often Lost- A Poem
    We Often Believe- A Poem
    We Often Forget- A Poem
    Who Am I- A Poem
    You Are Always With Me- A Poem

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