THIS MARRIAGE

It’s not too cold, I know,

but I had nowhere else

to keep this overcoat

All my suitcases were full

And my closet overcrowded

So I just let it sit

upon my shoulders

SOME OF WHAT I LEARNED FROM BOOKS

Give books away before they gather mold.

Will I be lucky or live to be old?

So you were fooled by the cover.

You’re the fool and it’s also over.

Not all great poets find renown.

Oh the snoring when they sleep on their own.

STORY MOON

Pair of lovers coupled

with a full moon—

Formula for romance.

Silhouetted faces cradled

in a generous moon curve—

Pregnancy.

The same pair walking on a beach, skies overcast,

moon skidding on footprints—

Death, or death

rescued by separation.

If there is no moon, oh no moon, there is no

moon at all, where is the moon, there is no

moon, honey, there is no moon, no

moon, and saying it again conjures no

moon what’s a poet to do

without moon

IF IT’S ANY CONSOLATION

To you who loved and could not speak of it,

lost something no one knew you had.

To you who find yourself abruptly weeping

in public with no legitimate explanation.

To you who told a friend who said ‘this too will pass’.

This did not. This carved a hole within your chest.

There this lives and owns your face.

To you who denied yourself and have no one else to blame

Surrendered to bondage thinking it your place

You went by the book, did not know better,

that piety was false, it was too late,

Two-minute silence.

TIRUVANNAMALAI

After I spat out sweet-n-sour stories

under the tamarind tree

Old photographs at Ramana’s cave

looked at me infinitely

Agape I walked on barefoot

rocks rumbling replies

Arunachala, red mountain,

your silhouette lines my dreams

Every morning, humanity snakes

around you, churning

Excerpted with permission from So That You Know by Mani Rao published by Harper Collins Publishers India, 2025.