A POETRY ANTHOLOGY
|
THE ALPHABET
anvil arrow bow box and brahmin cart chariot cloud and compost heap are all sitting in their separate squares
corn cup deer duck and frock ganesh garlic hexagon and house all have places of their own
inkpot jackfruit kite lemon and lotus mango medicine mother old man and ostrich are all holding their proper positions
pajamas pineapple rabbit and ram sacrifice seal spoon and sugarcane won't interefere with each other
sword tap tombstone and umbrella warrior watermelon weight and yacht have all found the ternal resting place
the mother won’t put her baby on the compost heap the brahmin won’t season the duck with garlic the yacht won’t hit the watermelon and sink
unless the ostrich eats the baby’s frock the warrior won’t shoot an arrow into ganesh’s belly and if the ram doesn’t knock down the old man
why would he need to smash the cup on the tombstone
|
Arun Kolatkar The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry Ed. Vinay Dharwadker & A.K. Ramanujan (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994), 116.
|