Hercules Goes Bananas
On rugs by the temple
vendors offer bright
prayer flags, short
in-curved knives,
pirate DVDs, despite
half here subsist without
electricity or water.
The heir to absolute power
liked Schwarzenegger movies,
and in a shooting frenzy
slaughtered his family.
Internet cafés are empty.
Large ads for mobile phones
overlook now touristless streets.
Over murky tea in glasses sticky to the touch,
we gaze out at The White Mountains
as though this high valley were a prison.
Beyond the city
gunfire descants
the sacred river,
chirping birds,
and people still
singing in the fields.
- David Lumsden 2008
David makes a living with software. His poems have appeared in lots of magazines in Australia, U.K. and U.S.A. but there's no book yet. Ages ago he edited a litmag called Nocturnal Submissions. His blog of poetry commentary is called Sparks From Stones. Click on the post heading to take you there.
Hi David, I really like the way this poem creates a vivid picture with such short stanzas, and the ending is fantastic
ReplyDeleteand here with
"over murky tea in glasses sticky to the touch,
we gaze out at The White Mountains
as though this high valley were a prison"
is such a clever juxtoposition - mountains / prison / valley where usually nature is linked to freedom and openess
Ashley