Mastodon Dentist – Issue 13
Trot
after rhododendrons bloom
down in the valley
I will find tea buds
a wayside café momentary
for today’s sun
before road
degenerates into rock
my blistered feet
are in retreat
esophagus dries up
in naked fear
ears are blocked
this water fall
that descends on my head
from above the sun
is perpendicular
to all my wants
its blackness cries out
for worship now
before it gurgles into gorges
and is consumed
even as my camera pants
horses trot
beneath a cloud that comes
and wraps around them
like my sins
the meadow is enveloped
into river bridged by my wanting
to touch your hand
after a cup of tea
this is mist
I insist
that the moon should rise by day
as I did
and go away before we are born
dust is always like lust
buses reverse
and throw up dust
this is the last stop
after this the night will go away
it will be dawn
and the sun will color all the snow
with vermilion
and then with blood
it is time
to calculate the commonplace
the miles to go
the gasoline
the purchase of my credit card
which does not work
in these mountains twice removed
from life that teems like insane worms
in your designated shopping malls
from which I shy away
like a unicorn
and fix a drink
and drive my car
this is my private war
with the water fall
with the plants of tea
with the flower called
the rhododendron
after rhododendrons bloom
down in the valley
I will find tea buds
a wayside café momentary
for today’s sun
before road
degenerates into rock
my blistered feet
are in retreat
esophagus dries up
in naked fear
ears are blocked
this water fall
that descends on my head
from above the sun
is perpendicular
to all my wants
its blackness cries out
for worship now
before it gurgles into gorges
and is consumed
even as my camera pants
horses trot
beneath a cloud that comes
and wraps around them
like my sins
the meadow is enveloped
into river bridged by my wanting
to touch your hand
after a cup of tea
this is mist
I insist
that the moon should rise by day
as I did
and go away before we are born
dust is always like lust
buses reverse
and throw up dust
this is the last stop
after this the night will go away
it will be dawn
and the sun will color all the snow
with vermilion
and then with blood
it is time
to calculate the commonplace
the miles to go
the gasoline
the purchase of my credit card
which does not work
in these mountains twice removed
from life that teems like insane worms
in your designated shopping malls
from which I shy away
like a unicorn
and fix a drink
and drive my car
this is my private war
with the water fall
with the plants of tea
with the flower called
the rhododendron
Ashok Niyogi
Bio:
Ashok Niyogi is an Economics graduate from Presidency College, Calcutta. He
made a career as an International Trader and has lived and worked in the
Soviet Union, Europe and South East Asia in the ‘80s and ‘90s. At 52, he has
been retired for some years and has been cashew farming, writing and traveling.
He divides time between California, where his daughters live, Delhi
and the Indian Himalayas. He is increasingly involved in his personal spiritual
quest and has undertaken serious study of scripture. He has published a book of
poems, TENTATIVELY, [iUniverse, Lincoln, NE – 1995] and has been
extensively published in print and on-line magazines in the USA, UK, Australia
and Canada. Numerous chapbooks of his poems have been brought out by SCARS
Publications, UC-Davis, Slow Trains and others.
Ashok Niyogi is an Economics graduate from Presidency College, Calcutta. He
made a career as an International Trader and has lived and worked in the
Soviet Union, Europe and South East Asia in the ‘80s and ‘90s. At 52, he has
been retired for some years and has been cashew farming, writing and traveling.
He divides time between California, where his daughters live, Delhi
and the Indian Himalayas. He is increasingly involved in his personal spiritual
quest and has undertaken serious study of scripture. He has published a book of
poems, TENTATIVELY, [iUniverse, Lincoln, NE – 1995] and has been
extensively published in print and on-line magazines in the USA, UK, Australia
and Canada. Numerous chapbooks of his poems have been brought out by SCARS
Publications, UC-Davis, Slow Trains and others.
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| "Rusty Otter Riding out the Storm" |