Impression of Karnataka

Doorjamb adjacent decor missing

From the spirited corner of an unnoticed star.

A rosette of partial, compulsive listening

Keeping the deliciously frayed senses ajar

Color saturated temples carefully coveted, kept

Vivid and sacred and unashamed among

Heaps of holy dung, discard and refuse unswept

Describing thousands of verses who dance over so many tongues

Our bovine goddess in her majesty rifles through trash,

Banyans bristle with barbed wire burls,

In spite, ascetics and trannys hope for little cash,

My skin representing disposable caviar and pearls.

Plastic propaganda posters tented over headed flowers

Plucked before dawn to venerate supreme powers

Smile laden eyes offered effortlessly at all hours

Reverence and responsibility unmistakably ours

Nevermind the mites, could these white clay streaks

Soothe the mangled cry of want, and the prize it seeks?

Brain to Page