Lost items

Found: The Macarena, long thought
lost to history, in a Delhi Café Coffee Day.
A lot can happen over Coffee! As long
as it doesn’t presume dangerous
adjectives, filter coffee or love marriages.

You gotta lick it so we can kick it
and Jimi Hendrix looks down from the walls.
‘I’m better when I’m drunk’
says the Muslim shopkeeper’s shirt
in the tangled bangle-aisles of Old Delhi.
Salt’n’Pepa doesn’t want want want.
Still the cycle-rickshaws ply
‘Abortion by tablet’ between the mosques.

Once upon a time there was light in my heart,
and now there’s only love in the dark:
Anthropologists trace exactly the moment.
The release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller
marked the last ship into Havana
carrying the music of counter-revolution.

Another night, another dream,
but always you. So they say
planting gardens in Laos:
Chillies grow best in casings
US 920378 or bigger.

We Shall Overcome, they sing
in the hills of Nagaland.
In Jaipur, a young boy,
almost to himself
No woman No cry
No chapatti No chai