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writeThis
sept. 2003
the cabal
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"the confrontation of aesthetics..."
writeThis.com
a pretendgenius.com production
5 poems
ashok niyogi
THE MORNING INTRUDESHe cuts his vodka
With fresh iced grapefruit chunks,
Palimpsests
Scribbled over with mummified blood
Crawl back into white walls,
Onto which, in morning light,
Through wooden shutters, open through the night,
An unlit pedestal lamp now throws a shadow.
The ashtray is full of cigarette butts
He pushes up one pillow against the headrest,
Pulls on yesterday's socks,
For continuity, lights one more cigarette.
Until he switches on the first light,
His day has not begun,
It still is yesterday night.
A pinpoint of green light
Winks at him from the fire-alarm
Ceiling still in intangible shadow
Like the overcast winter sky.
Coffee biz saaker biz malako,
The common Russian refrain of guilt.
Dusting away at yesterday's keyboard,
To make space for cobwebs of today.
DAFFODILS FOR BREAKFAST
Seven yellow daffodils,
With plant-food
In a crystal vase,
I stare
At seven yellow daffodils.
Translucent outer petals
Pale and thinly veined,
Like the fair wrists
Of a Bengali lady
Of pedigree.
The inner petal
Of denser hue,
Tubular, bulging at the base,
Funneling and flaring
Like a horse in a race,
Or maybe an inverted Victorian gown
Bordered with lace.
And then,
The mystery of the pistil,
Pregnant with organized pollen,
Straight and narrow like a shotgun mike.
A tendril inside the pistil,
Smells like room freshener, atomized
For arctic ozone holes.
The refrigerator whirs back to life,
Milk from Costco will expire today,
Breakfast has to be grits.
EAT
Whales and walrus eat their lard,
Poetry devours the bard,
The gecko hibernates,
Reindeers scrimmage for ferns and moss.
The grass eats rain and wind and mud
To flower white and yellow,
Cherries blossom on the Boulevard,
Mittens deftly swallow the baseball.
Animated blind white mice in Universal,
Are almost eaten by cats of Italian descent,
Ogres crunch at sheep's eyeballs,
Geese dig for earthworms in the curbside squelch.
A Banana Company has eaten up
A Salad Conglomerate,
I think I will have
Banana salad for brunch.
DISRUPTED
The oxygen mask finally defogged
In the first morning light,
The blood pressure nurse took away
The final kidney tray.
I wish they would unhook the drip
And take away the pouch of blood,
B-minus is so hard to find
And his palms are swollen so.
Did someone inform the catering girl?
He will not eat breakfast today.
There is this noiseless lull
Before all activity starts.
Resident doctors come and go,
The Consultant is stuck at a traffic light,
Sisters quickly scurry past
They are late for morning Mass.
I will have to feed the dogs
And change my underwear,
Before I start to make phone calls
I will have to take care.
OWL
With morning light
The owl reflects
On his endeavor
Through the night,
As do nocturnal predators,
Call-Center operators
With fake Yankee accents,
Sundry whores puking at the depraved,
Freshly topped-up alcoholics,
Cops counting their graveyard takes.
I specially mention the owl
That lets the sun rise,
Because he is wise.
It was day in Taipei,
It should have been night,
But the Date Line took its toll,
The Airline breakfast didn't help
Now in Delhi it will be dawn
As shadows lengthen on Mission Row.
The owl tucks his head
Inside his wing,
Opens one eye to stare at me,
Gives up and falls asleep,
He is wise.
vol. ii, issue viii
mar. 16, 2005
fraulein mr.
