Mani
Rao
From
the manuscript of Gods R Us
Simili
Narcissus
drowning in onlyness
The rest in duplicity
In
the Shower Thinking of Actaeon
Gaily
the nymphs pretend
To man her prudity
Hard
after a hunt Diana
Flirts water at Actaeon
Still
in the Shower Thinking of Actaeon
What
Ovid does not offer
What Slavitt does not explain
It was the water I say
It was the water she
Squirted
When you gawked that
Masked your trail
Your
curs fell on you
Deaf to Actaeon
Jove’s
Collar
How
nice to have a wife
Who’s also sister you
Fornicate in the street
Then go home to eat
Cadmus
is history
Stacked
with crawl
The dermis
Malignant
These jungle skins are one
As Cadmus walks they sync
Don’t
come back without her begins his story
Exile begins a hero
Above
the ground the trees appear various
He looks at the pointed faces leaves held like shields
His immediate hand darts to hilt
What
falls is trunk
Any arborist will tell you that
You can’t uproot history
History’s staunch
Axes scratch graffiti
For
details go to Ovid
I just give
The gist of it we
Confront what we are we
Become what we battle
Aphrodite:
Amorous
But no amour?
Your
cock-tip smiles
Spurting
Moonbeam
There’s
a mouth
Doesn’t lie
On
the Tail
What
did you
Do with the bees
Hermes
Every
which way according to the
Ithyphallic cactii
I
am looking for the eyes of God and all I see are hollows
Your
smooth lyre a lure
You
know the score Circe
See my love 00dispossess
I’ll
be swine
I’ll be godswine
Bring
hollows
Cupid
& Psyche
To
p on you
To quote myself
My
Daughter Philomela
The
desire at the back of it all the
Right of a maker
00000000000Your
0000000Instinct draws love
0000000Trust commands duty
Little
Philomela
You knead my face-putty playdough-nose
You enter verbs prod nouns
Body – a fact you do not separate yet
Isn’t
it fun000running in the
open000conquest of trees
00 wrists000knees000crunchy
hair
Twirling
in a new dress 000Five
husbands gawk Draupadi0000shuddering0000lockjawed
what’s thoughts000
where’s mind 000whose
funpark 000how to be wrapped
Krishna
Arms
crossed 000knees fetal0000your
sleeping position’s Leda
Every
age imposes its season on you
You regardless permissive
O
Philomela
A dog’s fooled when lover returns as thief
Jatayu’s goosed at Sita’s heist
I
did not even search his face
I thought him son his
Ardor manner procedure
Honored your sister
Now nightingales
Pity Tereus’s father
Parent
place the snakes on Medusa’s head
Ravana’s
garden
The
news is fragrance
Godliness in Ravana’s garden
Sita’s breath the breeze’s swoon
Ravana’s
waylaid by a hair wave on the margin of a leaf
At the leaftip a punctual gliss
He holds the blade between his fingertips as infant
hand
Turns it over
Looks at his palms
Turns them over and back
Eyes dilate
A vine relaxes grip
In the shade many shades
Colors without names
Where the trees keep their faces
What’s drooling in a dry web in a petiole
Listens
Lessons rhythm
Symphony
expanding to the nth
000000Brahma’s
Blood
000000Siva’s Pet
000000Brahmin-Daitya
000000Nectar-Navel
000000Ten-Head
000000Penance-Perfectionist
000000Seer-of-the-SivaTandavaStotra
Ravana
Turns to the sense in all this
000000000000Sita
000000To describe her
No
adjective has Sita
Sita’s Rama’s adjective
SitaRam
Life of Rama’s life
Perfect
Prkrti Sita
To be crucible
Had to be clayborn
Density creation’s material
000000Although
000000Paris is no Ravana
000000Helen no Sita
000000Ravana sees Troy
burning
Sita
mindless
Heart pendant lotus
Rama’s
Coming
Ravana’s Comet
Lanka’s on a tail
Ode
to Kali
Kali
Ma
Tongue unshy
Your necklace chatters
Skirt tassles sigh
000Mercy Kali
Everyone’s
Ma
Nobody’s Lover
Sister Daughter
000Slaughter
As
Promised Tithonus
There’ll
be clusters … presses … drinks …
Aurora runs
Aurora reddens
In
the vineyard
By the corky
Tendrils on the
Stalks :
00Raisins
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