TSC Poetry | Three poems by Kapil Kachru

 

Photo by Aletta Andre 

 

Kali’s Katha

 

ii

 

elaborate,

impermanent

bamboo frame

platforms emerge

in every lane

 

ferocious bright

fabrics & louder

speakers

 

lit by ribbons

of jumpy multi

colored electric

flame

 

trade

in tradition

is thriving

 

every footpath 

overflowing with

Bengali paper art

 

Durga Ma

battles shadows

many armed

 

robed in the

subtle milky

symmetry

of shola

 

Photo by Aletta Andre

Kali’s Katha

 

vi

 

USIS bookshelves

starved of poetry

shivering, naked

 

outside:

 

Gandhian Marxist

serves up egg rolls

& chai & gladly accepts

American dollars

 

in the background,

growling:

 

stray dogs

nose & play

with decapitated

coconut in gutter

 

they’ve tasted

cream before

                                                                                      

Photo by Aletta Andre

 

Kali’s Katha

 

vii

 

Having roamed this

sweating, aching city

for weeks now

 

gulped down gallons

of gasoline flavored

internal combustion

 

marched the eroded cement

footpaths reeking of history

 

indulged in exotic

typhoid breeding fast foods

from vaguely illuminated

vendors

 

stared blankly at attendance

registers in art galleries

begging for comments

 

been propositioned by

Chinese ladies on

Free School street

 

while shuffling

through second hand

records on narrow

wooden shelves,

 

this

i can say

with certainty:

 

every thing is

up for debate at the

India Coffee House

 

especially

the meaning of

water

 

Kapil is a writer based in Boston. His poems and stories have appeared in journals, magazines, chapbooks and anthologies in India, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.