Thought

E for Endeavour or is it Enterprise

R is for Resolute or is it Regret?

Letters, not just the ones in envelopes

Have gone extinct in a sense-

But still work as

The mere

Hyroglyphics of Communication

It's a kind of costume change

Between sets...

Wave them around like feather boas

As you might

Its a peekaboo concealment game

Still-

But there's

Nothing to keep anymore

But why bother

When nothing sticks

Anyway.

But Nothing has reinvented itself

New Hat, New Coat

Or maybe a new Face-

And grown an Identity

In a petri dish

Actually probably many

But

Nothing means what You

Used to mean when you said it

Of course it didn't mean nothing

even then!

When You said something

Then

Or when you say things

Now

Even when You are not the same You

Not Changed or reinvented

But not You at all!

(Look you can prove it- its different chromosomes DNA everything)

Not counting the damage

But apart from being other people

Altogether

The fact is

There are so many ways

To say Nothing

So many ways to say it

Now

And they are

Those ways, pathways, channels, routes, links, kinks

Which are-

Embedded

Or are they Embarassed

Sniggering with it, giggling like young girls

All over each other

Because they can't go away

Or be separated?

They're in all the lobes now

Sneak capture

Poured in like dye-

Blanketed, smothered

But you can't see it on those MRI scans

Because they're made unseen, colourless

You can't see thoughts

Everyone knows that!

Even in the comic books, where they put dots to reach the thought balloons when you're thinking and not talking-

You've got all kinds of colours alright

For brain activity on those MRIs

Even emotions- Purple for Passion, Red for Anger, Blue for Tranquility, Greem foe Envy

But None, Nada, Nyet, NOTHING

For your thoughts-

You can still say

A Penny for them

Like they used to in 1932

And hope you're handed the right tray

To go around the customers

When the penny drops

But after the Interval

And the velvet goes up

If there is Anything

Private Now

Those are it

Them-

Provided you know

How to pretend

About how You're

Not

Thinking at all.

Gautam Mukherjee

22nd May 2011