Houses Poem by Jagannath rao Adukuri

All the while we want houses
That protect us from fierce tigers
From demons and midnight spirits
Drunk on smelly country liquor
Fed through special stone holes.
We make our gods feel spirited
And bribed enough to give houses
To us and they do not knock
At our midnight doors and scare
Our hair erect on our bodies.
Houses cost filthy money which
Our spirit friends alone can get us
In their unguarded moments
When we flatter and coax them
In chaste Sanskrit incantations
Via fat priests wearing ocher robes.
We love three bed room houses
With gleaming Chinese crockery
And objects d’art in drawing rooms
Of cement and concrete perfection.
Our hearts truly jump up and down
In the midst of much brick and mortar
When they enclose our inner follies
And our absurdly comic enactments.