Glancing away from a riveting female historian
turned Sanskrit expert, rowers put out
in the Charles: bathtub vessels flying triangular sails
Like Kuru and Pandava pennants on either side
of the Mahabharata. She asserts: The Charioteer’s
driver, Krishna, is like—think of a Humvee owner
Taking his friends on a Friday night spin
in Bangalore saying, “I am God.” Parsing
an ancient text, and [...]

Blue plumbago waving frantically
in high wind the brass chimes
echoing an emperor’s garden
after he has withdrawn his hands
from a courtesan’s shaved legs
the kingdom’s burdens and labors
are shifted in the official painter’s
brushes water pink and lime bamboo
cured to engineered floors fitting
without nails or paste
interlocking Channels clicking flush
like bodies in a spoon and birds
coming out as tentative as [...]

Pausing in the heat to pour water
around new planted shrubs:
Formosa azaleas still turgid
from last night’s watering.
We misplaced the wheel’s rhythm.
It was not possible.
We could resume at will.
Periwinkles snuggle up to marigolds
over-ripe carrots bloom
because we failed to harvest them
last fall. Lantanas wait on winter.
You whispered goodbye and turned
your face to a land and time we loved
and [...]

Once you’re in lefty
it is right and right and right
and you can stalk cars
forever—Olds gone, GM going
Chrysler’s way. The history of automobiles.
Ford’s blue egg hatching
another fusion. The freight train’s horn
awakening a new year’s slumber
dissolved in the Carolina wrens’ chirps.
Once you’re in lefty
it is left and left and left
until your tenancy’s over. Who slept
in what room, [...]

And when that time arrives
—as it must—when we part
may there be no taste of neem
on our tongues—what might have been
is in dreams and our next mornings
the smooth transitioning motorcycles
gears trolling our dull neighborhoods.
The poems are from the Persaud album, Lantana Strangling Ixora

IMF/WORLD BANK sanctimony exposed
Palash Kamruzzaman
The World Bank and IMF have proposed the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) framework for all poor countries as a condition of receiving unconditional debt relief under the HIPC Initiative. The PRSPs will also be the key vehicle for the World Bank and IMF and other donors for various assistance packages, [...]

Kirpal Singh
how do i make you understand, my dear
you for whom safety and stability are prime
that to be creative you need to fear
and regard status quo as a crime?

for creative thinking requires you move
outside of everything you know
carve your own new borders and grooves
and possess enough courage to say No!

being gently led and being gently [...]

Death stands at a distance
all day all night, smiling, unblinking,
like that picture under the staircase.
Are you waiting for the last bus?
Do you know, the sands are slowly
rolling through the gaps of your fingers?
Tighten your fist. You are enlightened  to
pick one – the coffin or a life of action.
From one birth to another, augment the civilization.
Does [...]

That foot that has walked
on thorns
all through the day for you.
That foot which has shown
you foot-steps to follow.
That foot.
That foot behind the orange sun
has walked through arches
bare foot
on fire, on water
near parapets
has cracked doors and windows
for you to enter safe.
That foot.
That foot walked, crossed the
never-ending roads
when you aspired for the colossal.
That foot. Your passport
to utopia, [...]

What a tragic farewell
While dreaming of a new dawn
On a late December evening-
Rare and unique Benazir
What cruel irony
That neither bullets nor bombs
But her car’s sun-roof snuffed out
The indomitable spirit!
Voices of her slain father and brothers
Echoed in her resonant last words
For soon that evening of promise
Became a very long dark tragic night
As a nation wept [...]