Kalli

by Ajmer Rode

Kalli followed me eight miles

to the market where

animals were traded like slaves.

Cows goats bullocks camels

Kalli was black beautiful and six

prime age for a water buffalo.

She was dry. Repelled bulls as if she had

decided never to go green.

Hard to afford, my father decided

to sell her.

She obeyed as I led her

by the steel chain, one end in my hand

the other round her neck.

I was fifteen. Her nervousness was over

soon after we entered the market

where sellers occupied

their given spaces like matrimonials

on a large weekly page.

Kalli sat down with no emotion in her eyes

like an ascetic close to nirvana.

I sat stood walked around like a

neglected calf. Nobody bought Kalli.

She followed me 8 miles back home

I wasn’t sure if Father was sad

or glad to see her back. He just

looked at her like a family member

who had missed the train.

divider_poems

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Warm are the Still and Lucky Miles by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Voltaire At Ferney by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Underneath an Abject Willow by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
This Lunar Beauty by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
They Wondered Why the Fruit had Been Forbidden by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Waters by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Wanderer by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Two by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Riddle by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Quest by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Quest XII (Vocation) by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Novelist by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Labyrinth by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Hidden Law by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Geography of the House by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Dream by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Common Life by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Thanksgiving for a Habitat by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Taller To-day by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Song Of The Master And Boatswain by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)

More external links (open in a new tab):

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.