Agra Road
by Bill Yarrow
“Do you seek in the heart-shaped palace
the cold telos of love?” the guide asked us.
Everyone nodded yes. I stared out the bus
window into the face of a ripe monkey
whose owner demanded forty rupees for
any photographs I took. Is there nothing
willing to forgive the terror of its cost?
Beyond a jade gate, a lotus pillar nods to
a braided fort. To enter in this colloquy,
you must take off your shoes, and when you do,
it is 1653, the year of the diamond moon.
Mughals rule the candied land, alligators bask
on the soft edge of the Yamuna, but in the iron
sky, the ivory birds are still the birds.
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Author's Note
This poem appeared in Pure Slush on April 6, 2012.
Thanks, Matt Potter!
It also appears in POINTED SENTENCES (BlazeVox 2012).
Other stories by Bill Yarrow
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Great mix of imagery, Bill.
"Beyond a jade gate, a lotus pillar nods to
a braided fort. To enter in this colloquy,
you must take off your shoes, and when you do,
it is 1653, the year of the diamond moon."
Superb phrasings. Wonderful sound. *
Exotic, packed with imagery. *
This line, I love, “Is there nothing willing to forgive the terror of its cost?”
Love the closing line, Bill. Nice one.
Love this one.
Brilliant poetry, Bill, one of my favorites in Pointed Sentences.
Fave.
Wonderfully rich images, Bill! Pointed Sentences is full of other great poems. I just spotlighted "Axes" on my Facebook wall this week.
is there nothing willing to forgive the terror of its cost?
Now there's a line I'm thinking of stealing! *
is there nothing willing to forgive the terror of its cost?
Now there's a line I'm thinking of stealing! *
is there nothing willing to forgive the terror of its cost?
Now there's a line I'm thinking of stealing! *
Stop me before I kill again!