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

Facts and Values- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/7/2021

 
Facts and Values

As I sat in a lush green field, 
With the Sun hiding behind
Silver clouds, 

I heard two old men
Debating about the importance 
Of facts and values. 

One sage said:
Facts are the most important 
Thing in life;

With Facts, we can map
The course of our lives,
Stars, everything in nature.

Another sage calmly replied back:
You could know all the facts
Under the sun, 

And still not know which facts 
Are important; you could
Know all the facts about 

The physiological changes
Caused by love and yet be 
Oblivious to what love is; 

You could know all the facts
About the brutalities
Faced by a nation, 

But still not know its courage, 
Dignity and resilience
During the adversities.

How I noticed clouds
Disappeared quietly, and Sun rays 
Glowed our faces.

©️https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

Of man- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

26/2/2021

 
Of man

Just a pile of some flesh 

dressed up on a few bones,
with some veins and arteries
branching in and out of a pump;

with a little breath
constantly going in and out;
with a myriad of formless thoughts 
due to the action of neurons;

with an insatiable hunger,
for new things, he is often
unsatisfied
with the things he owns; 

with unharnessed desires, 
and a fear of being ordinary, he sprints

on a thousand feet
with an odd cramp
of altruism.

Finally his flesh, his bones,
his vanities,
his dreams, 
dissolve into the elements, 
disappear into a nothingness.

Perhaps a regular reflection
on this reality
will ease
many of vanities and maladies.


(The Galway Review-Ireland)
©️drjal02


O life- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/1/2021

 
​​O life
 
At dawn you greet us with bird songs,
energise our spirits, with the first rays 
of sunlight, to overcome the hurdles on our paths, 
to steel our resolve against your vicissitudes.
 
At noontide you sweeten our pain of daily struggles, 
rekindle our dying desires with the warmth of the sun, 
allure us with the sweetmeats of hope, and display 
the illusionary rainbows to our heart's contentment.
 
At eventide we eat the bread kneaded by our sweat,
drink the wine of our desires, draw the comfort 
for our tiring bodies, and prepare to sow new seeds 
of hope in the fields of our dreams.
 
Then next day, again, besotted by your seductive baits, 
hypnotised by your new dreams, we forget 
your deceitful nature, we forget the approach 
of your unbecoming sister.

(Gushing Fountain-A Collection of Poems)
@drjal02

A dream- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

5/12/2020

 
A dream

We are sitting, in a dream,
On a wooden bench.
During the day 
 
I carried the image 
Of my dream: the face
Of the pond, the dewy eyes
 
Of the evening, the soft-mouthed
Breeze, the freshness 
Of the air, the fragrance
 
Of the moment, the flutter 
Of the fallen leaves,
The twittering of birds, 
 
And the warm touch
Of your hand. 
As the evening approaches, 
 
Carrying the weight 
Of my dream, I concur 
Dreams float free, like buoys, 
 
In the deep sea of our minds, 
Pointing to our sunken 
Past, our hidden desires.

(Poet`s Espresso Review- USA)
@drjal02

Grandfather- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

13/11/2020

 
Grandfather 

My grandfather, a bearded family man,
dressed in a khan dress, a waistcoat,
a brown cap made of lambskin, 
would often sit in a room
smoking his hookah.

He, dutifully, woke up 
before the dawn,
for his morning prayers, lighting 
the kitchen fireplace to cook, 
long before the rest of the family 
woke up. 

He liked the company 
of his, peasant, friends.
He was kind, more than his children, 
to his orphaned grandchildren.
His wife, my maternal grandmother, 
I remember
mostly praying or chatting.
She never cooked.

He tuned to Radio Kashmir, daily, 
mumbling Sufi songs
with his eyes closed, as if 
in a transcendental state. 
He would talk, to his grandchildren, 
about his six months pilgrimage 
to Mecca, by a ship, about sea burials 
of pilgrims, who could not make to the land. 
 
He would distribute 
Zamzam water, discovered
by the heel 
of thirsty prophet Ismail, among the family
and friends, even years after 
his return from Mecca. 
 
To follow the tradition
of the prophet, he  would, for months, 
look after the sacrificial sheep.
He would feed, wash,
and apply henna dye to them, until the annual festival 
to commemorate the sacrifice 
of prophet Abraham.

We went through his things.
We found his marriage 
certificate, witnessed
by Kashmir's would be prime minister,
his snow-white burial garment 
he bought, decades before 
his death, from Mecca.

His home, filled 
with soundless words, memories, 
of his children and grandchildren, now sold 
to some strangers.
They have whitewashed, 
memory-stains, voice-stains 
of our childhood and his life.
He, persistently, told us 
"no human, living or dead, is worth
worshiping".
He deserves his own prayer 
from God.

(for Haji Mohamed Ramadan Wani on 27/08/2020)
(The Poet's Espresso Review- USA)
@drjal02


Silence- a poem by Dr 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.

(The Cannon's Mouth Literary Magazine-UK)
@drjal02

I order my heart to be patient-a poem by Dr 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

(The Cannon's Mouth- UK)
@drjal02


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

1/8/2020

 
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.

(Scarlet Leaf Review- Canada)

COVID-19: a poem by Dr 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
(The Galway Review- Ireland)


Sorrows- a poem by Dr 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.


(Gushing Fountain- A Collection of Poems)
@drjal02

O Democracy- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

2/4/2020

 
O Democracy

When you finally arrived
Into
 our hearts, homes, and streets, 
With empowerment inscribed   
On your forehead,
Heralding
a new dawn, new wings

For our bubbling dreams;
Tears
jeweled our longing eyes.
Our dreams soared high 
like birds with four wings.
Our adulation was almost divine.

After all upheaval, we greeted you 
With open arms,
And minds. 
We carried you
Gaily on our tiring shoulders, 

Singing mirthful songs.
We seated you on a high throne, built
On our dead bodies, studded
With the pearls 
Of Equality, Justice and Liberty.

Little did we know
You would cloak dung heaps, 
You would hide their ugliness,

You would deliver 
New avatars of bigotry.

Little did we know
You would adopt new tyrants, 
All speechifying,
All sermonising, eloquently, in the attires 
Of democracy. 

Little did we know, O democracy, 
You would evolve,
From a silver footed People's princess, 
Into a bondmaid
With little allure.

@drjal02


We often forget- a poem by Dr 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.
(Poet's Espresso Review-USA)


Time is going to come- a poem by Dr 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. 

(Poets Espresso Review-USA)
@drjal02

Solitude- a poem by Dr 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.

(Setu Literary Magazine- USA)

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 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 
 
To receive an 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.

(The Scarletleaf Review-Canada)

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.

Everyday her dawn arrives- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/11/2019

 
​Everyday her dawn arrives 
 
Everyday her dawn arrives 
With a bread of martyrdom
With a drink of tears. 
 
Everyday her bruised soul 
Is hammered, ceaselessly, 
On an anvil of a conflict. 
 
Everyday bulbuls, sit on the sill 
Of her soul, sing 
The songs of our tragedy.

She carries a burden, a heavy sack
Of our dreams, on
Her sacrificial head. 
 
When I look for expressions 
On her face, in her eyes, 
I find a tearing emptiness. 
 
Like her last queen, Haba 
Khatoon, she carries 
A longing, a gnawing grief. 
 
Like dead stars 
She carries, a burden 
Of loss, a ruined destiny.

Everyday she falls 
Into, an abyss, a black hole
Of two toxic neighbours. 

(The Galway Review- Ireland)

O my unruly mind- a poem by Dr 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.

(The Cannon's Mouth Magazine- UK)

​

A Shikara Ride- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

5/9/2019

 
A Shikara Ride
​

On a hot summer day, away
From the lanes of death, 
And the forest of grief, he sat 

In a colourful Shikara.
Rowing
through Dal Lake,
Amid floating gardens,

Moored houseboats, 
And the lake dwellers,
He saw the reflections 

Of a fort, a mountain, 
A mosque, and a temple,  
All floating on the face of the lake.

He saw the water droplets, studded
Like diamonds on the lotus leaves,
Flirting with the sun rays.


He saw his timorous mind, 
A fluttering heart, slowly relaxing
With a soft-mouthed breeze.

He saw the tiring limbs
Of his strained soul
Slowly stretching in tranquility.


(The Scarletleaf Review- Canada)

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 tread 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)
@drjal02

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.

(The Galway Review-Ireland)

@ https://www.poeticnoesis.com/

I see a new face of Kashmir- a poem by Dr Javed Alam

1/11/2018

 
I see a new face of Kashmir   

I see a new face of Kashmir,
Seething unarmed youth 
Protesting fearlessly 

Against the might of India;
Defying curfew, braving bullets
With only stones in their hands.

I see frightening whirlwinds
Around these courageous souls,
Chanting fierce Liberty songs.

I see a conflict generation, 
Full of resentment, full of valour; 
Carrying a fire of disobedience,  

A cyclone of dreams; 
Slayed, maimed, blinded 
By alien bullets, by alien pellets.

I see a mercurial nation
With grief eternally fastened 
To her bruised forehead.

I even see fat cats 
Licking double cream 
At the gates of its graveyards.

(15th July 2016)

(The Galway Review-Ireland)

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)

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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, India, 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
    Desires Of My Mad Heart- A Poem
    Despite All The Grandiosity- A Poem
    Eden Rose- A Poem
    Everyday Her Dawn Arrives- A Poem
    Facts And Values- A Poem
    Forgotten Orphans- A Poem
    Grandfather- A Poem
    How I Imagine You In Ramadan- A Poem
    How To Be Happy- A Poem
    I Carry You With Me- 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 Wearing A Pheran-a Poem
    I See A New Face Of Kashmir- A Poem
    I Sing A Song For Those- A Poem
    It Is Not Every Day- A Poem
    Like A Poem- A Poem
    Mango People- A Poem
    New Liking- A Poem
    O Democracy- 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
    Perhaps-it-is-not-your-famed-beauty-a-poem
    Proem- A Poem
    River Jhelum- A Poem
    Shikara Ride- A Poem
    Silence- Apoem
    Social Media - A Poem
    Solitude- A Poem
    Sorrows- A Poem
    Srinagar- A Poem
    The Dinner- A Poem
    Time Has Embroidered Your Face- A Poem
    Time Is Going To Come- A Poem
    We Are Often Lost- A Poem
    We Often Forget- A Poem
    Who Am I- A Poem
    You Are Always With Me- A Poem

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