BIO
Abhay K. is a poet and editor. He has published six collection of poems including The Eight-Eyed Lord of Kathmandu (Bloomsbury India) and The Seduction of Delhi (Bloomsbury). He is the editor of CAPITALS (Bloomsbury) and 100 Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury). He received the SAARC Literary Award 2013. His Earth Anthem has been translated into 30 languages.
A Living Goddess
A child free from deformities—black eyes, white teeth,
sensitive tongue, cuckoo’s voice, long slender arms,
delicate hands, soft feet, straight hair curled to the right,
fearless of men.
Pre-pubescent—a living goddess, carried in a palanquin
pulled by devotees, attendants waiting upon day and night,
showering rose petals.
Post-pubescent—a fallen angel, my feet fear touching the
ground, left on my own. Can someone help a goddess turn
into a human again?
Araniko
I left Nepal for Tibet to build
a pagoda for Shakya Pandit
summoned to the court of Kublai Khan
I could never return to my homeland
barely alive in the census records
of Cheng Jufu, I turned into a stone
statue watching silently
Dodu metamorphoses into Beijing.
Bagmati
Flowing words from the mouth of goddess Saraswati…on
my banks civilizations bloom and wither as blue jacaranda
in spring…men, beasts and gods take a dip into my waters to
cleanse their sins.
Who will cleanse me? Who will make me pristine?
Rains in Kathmandu
When it rains in Kathmandu, it rains nectar, it rains bliss.
I wish it rained for a hundred years and each drop seeped
into me, cleansing me of concupiscence, letting a thousand
Buddhas bloom within.
Kathmandu Nights
In the still of night, a solitary dog barks, a clear face appears, a
clock ticks. My deepest desires, gravest fears come out of the
hiding. The moon meanders towards its dark side. A sonorous
voice pierces my being.
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Poems from The Eight-Eyed Lord of Kathmandu (Bloomsbury India)
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