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Climbing a Small Himalaya

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Published by Archie_Macjoyce on December 5, 2011 - 16:43

"Climbing a small Himalaya"

Hashish to hashish,
monk to monkey,
Sherpa Tenzing was no flunkey,
but I wish he was here to offer me a rope
and a yak burger.
They’re beautiful creatures, I’ve seen them
in the town shuffling past internet cafés
like kerb-crawling armoured cars in sweaters, but
Christ, they make me hungry.
Damp-faced, cloud-cloaked, I can only make out
the bottom half of mighty Machhapuchhre,
Shiva’s fish-tail
behind which Chinese guns
wait and wait for their moment,
so I trudge back down
the mountain steps in the white trainers
I’d found in Gay Wayne next door’s dustbin,
back to the Maoist-postered town
where teenagers taunt cows
(is this their sacrilegious rebellion?),
where bearded apes and bald holy men bound
around temples and tourists ease their stomach pains
with strong-smelling, paranoia-triggering cigarettes.

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Comments

MistakenMagic | December 7, 2011 - 00:02

"They’re beautiful creatures, I’ve seen them
in the town shuffling past internet cafés
like kerb-crawling armoured cars in sweaters, but
Christ, they make me hungry."

- love it! I've just realised I have a video on my phone of my best friend taunting a cow last summer, couldn't for the life of me tell you why... Maybe it was indeed sacrilegious rebellion! Much enjoyed, anyway.

Magic xxx

Archie_Macjoyce | December 7, 2011 - 02:10

Is cow-taunting a new thing that all the young people are doing nowadays then? I feel left out. I don't think it counts as sacrilegious rebellion for your friend, unless she's a Hindu...?

Now, yaks are a different matter. Mmmm, yaks... hairy but tasty.

Thanks for your comment. Glad you liked.

fatboy74 | December 11, 2011 - 21:50

Marvellous :-)

Archie_Macjoyce | December 12, 2011 - 12:27

Thanks, my man...

RachelPatricia | December 13, 2011 - 15:04

Yaks are indeed very tasty - visited a Mongolian restaurant years ago, the ribs were simply divine...

... as is your poem, by the way, Archie. Cheers for the read - took me away for a bit and I could do with a holiday :)

Archie_Macjoyce | December 17, 2011 - 13:42

Thanks very much. I hope you were singing David Bowie as you drifted Nepalwards...

albamac | December 23, 2011 - 12:13

That wis rerr, Archie! Ah'd like tae Yak a wee bit longer, but there's coos waitin'. :)