Kolkata

Listening for you
Your capable lips
warbling birdcalls

Like an unseen cat
coming toward me
through long grass

Flattering skin with
harmonic variations
To leave cheerful
mouths open

Your almost sounds
move nearly closer
Behind me women
shuffle perfumed
with frangipani

My face averted
Shaded by a banyan tree

Back pressed against
ivory walls painted
in egg white and
tamarind

I sit writing
submerged flowers
tied to stones