What I Wanted to Write

the eye and the invisible are related
I have felt that all scenes
occur drawing a curtain over the invisible
whatever isn't seen is all in the scene
and can't be seen

Vijay the motorcycle mechanic's shop is open on Saturday
and in the shop's being open its being closed on Sunday
wasn't visible but its being open on Monday was

however one public holiday
the shop was closed
in the sight of the shop being closed it was invisibly open
and who knows why people
were happily getting their motorcycles repaired that day
I own merely a rickety scooter not a motorcycle
yet I too was smoking a cigarette getting a Bajar Pulsar repaired

baffled by the invisible I walked into the visible
and asked a friend about the shop
he said he'd been thinking a lot
about the shop that day and in the shop open in his memory
he may even have been smoking half of my cigarette

I came home and thought Pondicherry I've never been there
all the architecture of that city I told myself
is hidden behind the sound of the word Pondicherry
yet is definitely there

then I wanted to write a sentence
when we write the intent is invisible the words visible
the elements of the words are visible
what I had wanted to say is who knows where
maybe it's behind the curtain of the sentence
it isn't it is
it's certainly not what I did not want to write