Kolkata

Job Charnock carved
two quarter moons for himself
in declaring "Calcutta!
two benign colonial winks,
but the gutter buddhas,
soaped-up Rodins,
don't want their city shaped after a thief.

January 1st 2001.
It's morning on the corner of Kyd and Sudder,
a man squats
with the Hindustan Times
and a clay shot
of chai, shitting
with pride¦ Kolkata: Ks like dented stars
for a city that thrives on prangs. New cars
look dumb as tourists
and the Museum's a home
for amputee statues,
six-stump Vishnus,
and trunkless Ganesh.
Lying on a rug on Chowringhee road,
a lucrative thalidomide beggar
spends his days wagging.

The city's eldest resident
hunches by example,
tourists gawp,
locals take notes
and careers advice.
The banyan tree leans
on two thousand crutches.