The sun rattles the dust
in a feast of fire over New Delhi as two boys
make music out of sculpted wood
beside a banquet of piled up garbage.
On the city outskirts a tribe of Lahuri rat catchers
have come to disturb the fields and take back
the wheat stolen from farmers. There is no escape
from the smoke blown into their tunnels.
Hours wander past noon,
beggars line the red stone streets,
children appear and disappear—
a whirlwind of butterflies.
Is this the life that was supposed to be?
There is no silence,
just a windfall of sounds
from motorbikes and donkeys.
I saw your face.
It was a light on the water.
Keep me to you.
The trees hold up the birds.
I am entangled in the flare of their songs.
The sun has its drink
while mangoes rot.
The afternoon puts on a mask,
indifferent to the clarity of Christians or Hindus.
Everyone must succumb to death
before or after the sun petrifies.
Dead rats are put into the flames.
Leftovers are given unto the maws of crocodiles.
A proclamation is given by the Lahuri:
"Rat meat is good for you."
I am a pilgrim who thirsts.
The night and moon show me their empty hands.
Everything is fragile.
The earth, full of roots and grubs,
puts on a green coat of dewdrops
for another morning, another day.
A contest entry
- Take Me There Part III: India (Any Time Period) 900 Points! by Everwind Rising.
900 points, ended August 9, 2007, 9 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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i have read this one several times in your book. it's also another one of my favorites in it. i love the imagery and the poem is superb but what i particularly like and noticed about this piece is the change in tone and voice with the italics. I like those stanzas mingled in with everything external.
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"The sun rattles the dust
in a feast of fire over New Delhi as two boys
make music out of sculpted wood
beside a banquet of piled up garbage"
Just WOW! And the last stanza is pure brilliance!! Such an incredibly profounf write. Duch beauty, Such excellene. WOW! I just love this!
~Namita
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raw beauty
the beauty of this piece-just great.the stanza in the poem concerning the "pilgrim" is wonderful-such an open quality and no judgment concerning existence. one just accepts-"everything is fragile". thank you.
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This is an incredible write...
I am overwhelmed with excitement -
you are such a talented writer
and you are HERE! On this site,
whenever I want! lol I can't
wait to see what you pen next...
Your imagery and style is the
best...Congrats on the Gold.
I can't imagine this poem as
anything but...
Love, Lane
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Beautifully written. Such vivid imagery and an almost dreamlike quality to this piece. Lovely rhythm and flow. Excellent.
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excellent,the poet pens imagery with such clarity that the hustle,bustle and degradation was alive and bristling,these are the sights that are not advertized on tourist brochures but they are the ones the city is alive with,the mention of rats was chilling yet they say even in the west we are never more than three feet away from a rat and whether or not rat meat is good for you it doesn't appeal to the palate...
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