this lathe grinds fine
circles
within balls of fire
head tonsured
patchwork
on foot walks
watery in afternoon sun
this season’s mangoes
outside the vodka shop
once
emperors walked barefoot
to ask the sun for a son
boon granted
the corn is dull yellow
heavy
bent
dynasties outgrew
this gate
that once led
to crossroads
of the moonlight
a huge red fort
and a hospital for the birds
let me buy you
a mirror-work skirt
in atonement for puppets
heavy on string
dew zoomed in
by the muezzin
while you grow roses
in your basil garden
and my money plant runs amok
*Ajmer, in Rajasthan, near Delhi has the shrine of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti (1138-1225 AD), the famous Sufi saint.
Ashok Niyogi, California, USA
Ashok Niyogi is an Economics graduate from Presidency
ReplyDeleteCollege, Calcutta, India. He made a career as an
International Trader and has lived and worked in the
Soviet Union, Europe and South East Asia in the ‘80s
and ‘90s. At 52, he has been retired for some years
and has been cashew farming, writing and traveling. He
divides time between California, where his daughters
live, Delhi, Goa on the Arabian sea, and the Indian
Himalayas. He has published a book of poems,
TENTATIVELY, [ISBN : 0-595-33935-2] and has been
extensively published in print and on-line magazines
and in Chapbook form in the USA, UK, Australia, New
Zealand, India, Turkey, Canada and Hong Kong.