the crowd moves towards the goddess' chamber

jostling each other in front of maintain social distancing signboards

& expedited by money-grease the vip-line confluences with ours

with faithful thirst in their eyes people drink

the aura of the desire-eyed goddess while a masked priest

swats away an old man trying to take extra packets

of the holy kumkum— my sweet alienated trance returns

as we exit & swallows up some time before i am startled

again this time by a statue of periyar caged in black-red

with a plaque reading— there is no god! he who worships

god is a barbarian!— i'm looking at it while vedic chants

drone in from a math nearby while the evening azaan blares

from a mosque & (as if the universe delivering its punchline)

an omni-van pulls up before me with its windshield reading

in blood-neon font jesus loves you!

all of it all at once

become the wings of my laughter— even the dice

wear out a bit after each throw then who am i to not?

~ ajay

29/11/2021