Saturday, April 1, 2017

few of my poet friends


 


remarkable are my many poet friends

winning, among friends, some fame

a greater reputation in their own minds

though struggling to earn +a decent income



foremost among these dancers is Zinga

self-righteous, self-proclaimed a Nigerian chief

an angry immigrant to a terrain too unfriendly

he now like a sober sage proclaims, affirmatively



the old English maxim: ‘all that glitters is not gold’

justifying also his unwillingness to change with times

hence denying, within self, traces of a chameleon

as i move on after failing to uncurl the dog’s tail



then comes Brimstone, the brilliant bask

singing morning, noon and night from work to escape

arguing the need to speak truth through a mask

claiming, unlike me, a Tamil writing in English



he also thinks the language of his colonial master

he is a migrant poet, and his face is behind a mask!

Leister is the other, licking the others’ liquor glasses

basking in coffee shops, establishing his charisma



only after failing to find his worth elsewhere

but in a land that alienates the new arrival

he networks with the underdogs

constantly kicking George’s ass



thriving on the exploits of his comrades!

last but not the least is a damsel, Dorothy

writing with the pen name Dana

claiming to be like the beaver



a true daughter of the soil

with little education and more with her skin

very confident that her poetry, for sure

will fix peace in the warring world!



© henry victor     18.09.2003





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