i.

Peppercorn dot points in

Tupperware lunches

Work grind applications

Refine piquant supplications

2-3 years minimum expedience

Penniless by the pension,

No globetrotter before the age of muscular,

Backpacked tension

It’s been 7 years of liaison to see Nani in Melbourne

Ma says she has flybuys, but we’ll see, I’m barely getting by 
Callous end line: When are you coming to mine?
Let’s make it 8

To the power of ‘th’

To the promise of ‘p.m.’

                                                        Any day now



ii.

I am a thirsty fish in ultramarine SEEK

I beg, do not laugh, Kabir

If my fear of never-ending poverty

Knowingly veils the Self on sale for

24 dollars an hour



iii.

Olive jar Ganga

Nor Zam Zam of Safa and Marwa

Could cleanse the omega bisayn of vain interviews

No matter

How long I rub and soak

In this vinegar lemon basin 
I do not meet the selection criteria of heaven

Kabir, I am no musk deer

Aware of its glandular scent



iv.

Coffee bean, cleft chin pits in

Caramel lustre dates

Bundles of wrinkly wisdom huddled under

Some shadeless, proudful

Palm leaves 
Fellow fruits are no longer an inspiration

If all I see is a tall trunk of competition

I repeat and revere, Kabir, a casteless hymnic melody

The washerwoman and warrior are one 

When I am overcome by the acrid odour,

Like the landfill backroads of Blacktown, winding up windows,

Of my unemployable soil

My entry level manure



v.

I’ve tried to Kun Faya Kun 100s of rejections

Considered fired, blazing chilli-Nazar purges

Found myself in awe of the planets

Like beads weaved in His immaterial fingers
Repudiation strings renunciation near in my

Reduced commutes

UBER takeaways,

Social fuel &

Luxury getaways
The restless farmer pours a well

Onto   an                    unproductive                     tree	                      every

                                     hour

Still,

With impatient faith in its unpunctual destiny

In the right climate, at the ripe season

Thumma Ameen



*Olive Jar Ganga (2026) is a free-verse, response poem to select renowned mystical Dohas (rhyming couplets) of the late

15th century Indian poet, Kabir Das. It applies the conventions and imageries of egoless spiritualities, particularly of the East,

to further contemplate job seeker incompetence, burnout, wealth decline, competition, and performance.