Broken Things

The city stood still.

broken men and women at bus stop

waiting for broken buses

that collapsed long before

the red light pole collapsed

broken people stood still

“People are poles”-

unbroken glasses whispered

I asked the plumber

to fix my water tape

and he said “but who will fix a broken man”

I asked the cobbler

to mend their boots

and he said “ but who will mend

the broken hearts underneath their fine suits ”

the broken singer sings

“the river of warmth from your eyes

are not to keep your cheeks warm

but to remind 'you are broken'

broken like everything else is broken ”

I asked the poet

to write a poem of my broken cellphone

and he said “but who will write of this broken country

which send poets for trial for writing of broken things”

I asked the lover

to teach me how to fall in love

and he said “Can't fall twice as a whole,

if once it is broken”

I asked the coal miner

to give me some coal to burn

and he said “it wont get burn under the broken sky

under the broken roof of yours,

the rain will leak, your destiny is here with this coldness”

I asked the revolutionary

to teach me how to revolt against this broken justice

and he said “Revolution too is broken into peices.

only they are in books or in the lips of those bearded faces”

I asked the cook

to cook me pork

and he said “the pressure cooker is broken

the plates, the spoons are broken too”

I asked the dog

to bark at broken things so that i know they are broken

but he barks back at me

as if it was me

who collected all the broken things

of this city,

who made a portrait of himself

with broken things