I love Bombay

Wall to wall slums
line the railway tracks
a mother bathes her baby
in a bucket
The child screams
rich in glee

The flyover curves over Marine Drive
Gigantic waves lash the road
sea salt blossoms
on cynical concrete

Mumbaibombay Bombaymumbai
the politics of ethnicity
rip through language
never innocent      words
as brick, sword, balm,
vision, promise, flesh

The Goddess smiles
at humanity's trifles

The Sea Is Everywhere
sand in hair brush
rot in mango pickle
salt on lovers lips
fish on winds breath
tumult in the blood

"Beggars are so professional here"
says an admirer
nothing left to chance
certainly not fickle altruism

Creatures evicted from marshes
Annihilated to build skyscrapers
lurk subterranean
odourising dreams
Curse this city
Splatter it after dark with sleeping bodies

People crave land
hungering always for home

The rattle and hum of the city
cuts through to the cells
like a well-enunciated 'Om'

Tranquility in traffic

Bom bom bom bom Bombay
lyrics delirious as a drumbeat
a fever deliberately courted
in the pounding rain

The Goddess refers to Mumba Devi, who gave her name to Mumbai.