A. K. Ramanujan Poems

In Madurai,
city of temples and poets,
who sang of cities and temples,
every summer
...

Lord of new arrivals
lovers and rivals:
arrive
at once with cockfight and banner—
...

Images consult
one
another,
...

When she left me
after lunch,I read
for a while.
...

Sky-man in a manhole
with astronomy for dream,
astrology for nightmare;
...

Now tidy your house,
dust especially your living room
and do not forget to name
all your children.
...

Yet like grandfather
I bathe before the village crow

the dry chlorine water
my only Ganges
...

Composed as I am, like others,
of elements on certain well-known lists,
father's seed and mother's egg
...

It must come as leaves
to a tree
or not at all
...