Ashok Niyogi
tigers saunter in for Western Union
from their non-resident children
oak forests have walked away
and left behind a two-blade ceiling fan
a hundred years ago
here
Corbett shot a man-eating leopard
in the kitchen garden
the ‘India Post’ cottage on the ridge
has an artist postmaster with gerbera and carnation
in his hair
grey with time deposits
that fathers bequeath their sons
and diesel fumes that the hill-girls
now carry as dowry
along with compulsory primary education
in Muktesar
the sun sets in the west
and renders vermillion
the Lord’s Trident
his Consort and Her East face
further east
the five Furnace Peaks glow
Ashok Niyogi was born in Calcutta in 1955. He has two published collections of poetry in India—Crossroads and Reflections in the Dark (both from A-4 Publications) and has one published book of poems in the United States—Tentatively (iUniverse). He has been published extensively online and in print in India, the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and Holland.