Ghazal by and for Kartik

Man, I feel like a cat: cold.

Don't want to be no bat cold. 

The purpose of meaning is trying.

Please assist Matt Cold. 

I broke up with her on her birthday.

She told me, "Man, you didn't need to be that cold."

I overthrew the King but have a poor memory for names.

My favourite musician is the great Nat Cold. 

I found the body of the martyr 

Upon which the populace spat cold. 

I found the ivory tower

In which the hunters sat cold. 

I wandered for years in search of religion.

I arrived at the steps of Angkor Wat cold. 

I played with my American breakfast.

I left that plateful of fat cold. 

The body arrived, before the doctor could yell,

"Get the defibrillator, stat!" cold. 

Kartik gifted Sameer this thread.

Had Sameer not stitched it into a hat? Cold.

Link

I thought of you today.

I wanted to send you a poem I found,

A poem about Googling yourself,

And about names.

With horror, I realised:

I had forgotten your name.

Has it been so long since last we spoke?

Have we met in silence but not looked up from our phones?

Have we passed each other on the street,

Locked in conversation 

With other friends and other lovers

In our lives?

I searched for you on my phone.

What can two thumbs type 

When searching for the forgotten?

Not where we first met,

Nor what you do for a living.

Just a surname,

And surnames are useless things

When the name that lives in our heart

Has slipped away 

When we weren't looking.

At last, I searched for other poems,

The words "podcast" 

Then "poetry" 

Then "poem" 

Then "here"

And there you were.

Our red thread was intangible,

But not unknowable--

A string of blue characters.

URL.