Flagbearers

We have you covered –

Breakdown, depression, genetics, authoritarian upbringing, neural

damage, suppression, hubris, sublimation, addiction, Marxism, Kaliyug,

planetary configurations –

Our eyes gleam

with the fervour of priests

on sacred riverbanks,

ancient domesticators

of mortality.

Even the gods inch closer

when we brand them

with our love,

our naming.

The second battle of Panipat, Samsung TV, Raja Raja Chola, Fakhruddin

Ali Ahmed, Hawkins Pressure Cooker, J. Krishnamurti, I see I see I

And we cling,

chew,

suck,

our mouths stained

with the green salad of language,

and we pound

and chew again,

our jaws grinding the cud

of a timeless latex wisdom,

because we believe

because we must

that words tame,

words stanch,

words embalm,

words know.