Sauce

	Not that devious grin in your eyes, Or the way your nose is almost crooked, Or that perfect up turned smile, But on the edge of your lips- Sauce- Sloppy blotches of it told me I had fallen head over heels for you. -Jason		A few drops from the vial And I watched it change From clear water in a pan To something deeper Richer Capable of dark things. It twinkled innocently And we served it To so many With meatballs and spaghetti -Nikita

Empty

	She opened the irresistible urn, And her gifts left her, Escaped from her grasp, all of them. Yet, in the space that now seemed empty, One voice remained, It spoke to her (and will speak to you). When all seemed lost, Pandora had Hope. -Jason		Endless clatter As the bed knocks into the hostel's standard sized study table. Our bodies are held together By utter chaos. And our minds glued By absolute nothing. Empty vessels Make more love. -Nikita

Secret

Word-ka Shots decided to bring in a guest-writer this week. Our reader, Nikita D'Cruz, is quite the writer herself and turned out to be just the perfect sized lemon wedge to give the Shots a fresh new twist! Presenting this week's theme, Jason's chosen one: SECRET. 

 

	Conference call activated... Curious greetings... shushes Insight has traveled faster than sound Three expectant patient ears Listen to some throat clearing And then, the obvious is declared... Collective breath intake, Then loud laughter, hoots Out of place comments Guffaws, The embarrassed caller giggles ‘I’ll call you guys later. And yea...’ ‘Of course we won’t’. Four final smiles. Love exchanged. Of the strongest kind Beep. Call ended. -Nikita D'Cruz		Its warm, moist smell Attracts flies I try to wave them aside With the palm of my hand But they sniff That sticky-sweet on my fingers And know. Or do they? -Nikita Deshpande

Turn

	the blue ballerina spins around her star and turns out day and night pirouetting on an invisible line stretched across the sky she trembles once a while but goes on. why? maybe because she loves the star maybe because she loves to dance or maybe because her/our/all life depends on it. -Jason		This time I walk away. Something pulls me by the arm And says Not love Not this time Please. And I listen Not because its you But Because I'm looking The other way. -Nikita

Yellow

	Hazy and halting breaths, Have never said so much before, As when you came to leave me. Standing at the door,  Almost saying- Don't go.  You said, "You're leaving?" Words had lost their place, In this space, Like dead flowers, That were kept but forgotten. While the rotten- Yellow stains on the pages  Will later say- I, Was the one who walked away, When you were the one, Who never asked me to stay.  -Jason		powdered sunlight on your morning face like somebody smeared turmeric on your cheeks and held them up in a smile, lifting you by the chin from a dollop of thick, delicious honey-some sleep something tells you...today will be good. -Nikita

Tricky

Word-ka Shots reader Sivakami Sivakumar served us a heady little one. But we're upto an old trick of ours. Guess which piece belongs to whom. We haven't put our names on them. Again.

Drink up, lovely people...

	... they gave me ...a magician’s hat... or something black ...like coarse velvet… I was told… no, it was whispered… “pull out a dream…” I reached in… deep-  into the coarse black velvet… first hand… then head… then knees… but somewhere… in its slimy gullet… I dug my heels in… and with a retching movement I woke up resenting my abysmal magic skills.		Talking to you is like riding a unicycle. On a tightrope. With a barking dog. At each end. Six long stemmed glasses on a tray. In one hand. And 4 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the other. As an ostrich feather vacantly tickles my left heel.

After

Ahem, Word-ka Shots needs YOU. Suggest a one word theme for our coming round of shots. If we know you, we'll reward you suitably. In kind.

If we don't, well... there's always the internet ;-)

And now, After...

	I stand three steps after you stretching and afraid of the light  dancing around you in circles I surround you in darkness and then sometimes when fate conspires we stand together as one. -Jason		the debris of paper plates was cleaned, and the wooden chairs were stacked, packed and sent, the star shaped lanterns were pulled out from the sky; and Mrs. Karmarkar from B 101 through a mouthful of chocolate cake promished hershelf: i'm naevwer makin the resholution agenn.  -Nikita

Stop

	. with your nonsense and your pretentious affairs about whatevers on your list about how you care . telling everyone what you did and where and about how you climbed mount everest after saving orphaned ducklings from chinese cooks with cleavers just . -Jason		bulbs of water drip from the tap as I… Q. 25. Define Trachea A trachea R. four benches ahead. white shirt. is a membranous tube with cartilaginous rings rings of curls bend into his head that conveys inhaled air sigh. from the larynx to the bronchi straight to my heart “PENS DOWN. PASS YOUR PAPERS AHEAD.” I rush to scribble:  membranous white tube with curly rings that conveys inhaled sighs from the larynx to the heart. -Nikita

Juicy

	I have tasted nectar- in my dreams, And been denied it, when I was awake. Is it my fault then that I keep dreaming? -Jason		With glee in her yellow, bulbous eyes Miss Emerald Pistawalla  (M.A., English Hons.) watches me: a delicious prey among a herd of students that accurately feign attention. I alone have not Donne, Plath or Frost. She licks her lips and thinks up a luscious new punishment. -Nikita

Glass

	His words were like glass, clear, but transparent. He said he would come back for you, And you wait- holding that solid line, Like a piece of glass, In your hands. Your grip grows tighter, with each passing moment. -Jason		Those dreams were made of stained glass You saw through them at once While I could only see pretty squares in colored shadows on the floor. And my own highly colored self divided into f|o|u|r. -Nikita