Window Shopping

‘…where the trees constantly prevents one from seeing the forest.’
-Georges Bataille, Accursed Share Vol. 1, p. 13

She wasn’t reading
She was merely glancing at these words
that formed into sentences,
and sentences into passages, filling the page.

The texts of different shapes and colours
are the names and advertising slogans
on the signboards and window displays of shops
She was passing but did not enter.

Why did she relate them to the many names each Hindu god is known by?

Murugan, Murukam, Subramanya,
Senthil, Saravana, Karttikeya,
Arumugam, Shanmukha, Kumara,
Guha, Skanda, Velan,
Swainatha…
is one name, one word.

Her words molested him
Her presence tickled the interior of his chest

This book could explain it all.
But she closed it and tossed it onto his bed.
There was hardly any sound.
It fell and hit the pillow,
as silent as a leaf, fallen from an unknown branch,
half-heartedly shielding us,
from the blades of the sun.