Barbara Ellmerer

Western Union Telegram July 24 (Found image)

Barbara Ellmerer

sad tree               hermaphrodite flowers
river on whose banks the bandit became a poet
the word for darkness into which that story disappeared
the octagonal sage content with the word deformed
radha’s name dying into the pleasure-word

Sampurna Chattarji

YELLOW 1

Give me the yellow that is the opposite of feeble
Give me the strong yell of it
Its shout of glee in the middle of my belly
The yellow of navel
Mustard yellow in a field of gluttonous joy
Turmeric colouring my fingers yellow as I eat
This moment
Alive

YELLOW 2

Yellow not submarine this is unacceptable yellow
the one who will not sit down in polite living rooms
dabbing its mouth with a hanky this yellow not buttercup
but bravado carnal in its appetite this is the one who will
stick its coloured tongue out like a child yellow not moon
seductive in a crooner’s voice but brutal in its need to spill
its guts out in a momentary sickening confession

Sampurna Chattarji

Barbara Ellmerer