Conspicuously pale-faced, solitary soul
dressed western in a city that could swallow me whole.
try not to catch the eye of the money patrol
looking at me like my body’s made of dollars and gold.
I Am Rich.
Scan my pockets for bulges
my cockiness is false, my wallet is swollen
I fumble your currency like Monopoly notes,
and spend your week’s wage on a bottle of coke.

One of the
people taking pictures
of the people taking pictures
of the people from the pictures of the people.
The people make a face
to put the people in the picture
that the picture of the people isn’t real.
But to the people taking pictures
nothing matters but the pic
to put the people in the picture back at home
Picture it- “look at the people in the picture.
So Real!”
…make the picture wallpaper in your phone.

I buy mineral water, and sweat it away.
See the confetti petals match the red of my face
stepping in pace to the drums the percussionists play-
the only White Man in your wedding parade.
Men like me from Tibet to Mesopotamia
look for realness as a method of escape:
dumbstruck
among beggars and stray dogs
I came cos I relish the chaos.

But I became a
person taking pictures
of the people taking pictures
of the people from the pictures of the people.
The people make a face
to put the people in the picture
that the picture of the people isn’t real.
But to the people taking pictures
nothing matters but the pic
to put the people in the picture back at home
Picture it- “look at the people in the picture.
So Real!”
…make the picture wallpaper in your phone.

As I
sip a Kingfisher, in Pasha
in passionate chatter with a man,
Pat
(whose hair’s matted)
I say, “yes mate
but if the chess game’s
Universal,
shouldn’t we let the rest play?
like Ganesh, Lolla and
Parvita, who
came to the beach to do
selling, cuz they need a few
pennies, and they shake
necklaces and bangles
like a prisoner
shakes chains on his ankles
saying
“please come buy,
sir madam, please”
… to the beach bums frying
in factor fifteen
sun grease, Pat
and I have to come clean
Pat.
I’m ashamed to be named as one of these…”

… people taking pictures
of the people taking pictures
of the people
from the pictures of the people.
The people make a face
to put the people
in the picture
that the picture of the people
isn’t real.
But to the people taking pictures
nothing matters but the pic
to put the people in the picture back at home
Picture it- “look at the people in the picture.
So Real!”
…make the picture wallpaper in your phone.


By Dizraeli.