Jaws Poem by Jagannath rao Adukuri

We ruminate here, in this space,
With our highly flexible lower jaws
Making vigorous elliptical movements
A soft morning sun calls us out
From behind the General Post Office
A dark child, naked and shy,
Laughs from the ripples of the pond
“Cracker! ”, shouts the girl in English
To the utterly lovable Great Dane
Who sniffs busily at the roots
Of the wide-spread butter-cup tree
Looking for a chance burial bone
These men and women laugh
For no particular reason, really.
Other people hurt yet other people
While everybody laughs for no reason
Endowed with a free lower jaw
Soon we retire to our caves
In our venerable teacher’s village
We cannot sleep yet, you know.
If we turn to the left of the bed
We fall to the Earth’s bosom
If we turn to the right of the bed
We remain suspended in the air
Like so much particulate matter
We have our frightening day-mares
We lie supine with wide-open eyes
Fixed on the wooden scaffold
A giant anaconda sleeps there
When it wakes from its slumber
Our jaws will come unstuck.