Slide away from Kolkata
iron hum
green blur
bicycle rickshaw parked on rubbish heap.
Blue shirt man comes to spray
each bench post corner
with something freshener
benches upholstered in blue leather
blue lino floor with navy, white & gold
flecks.
Slide among lands of food:
bananas, rice,
mustard, goats,
taro, bamboo,
cow swish tail follow sari woman.
Crew of head wrapt men
pick axe and sledge
down yellow brick rail house.
Flat land stretches verdant
below flat sky.
Roll past coal plant mile
orange dust pouring into air.
At Durgapur,
corrugated steel siding is
painted grey, white and blue.
Twin smoke stacks
are red stripe white stripe
grey stripe white stripe.
Hump Cabin. Gang Hut. Relay Room.
Train Lighting Office. Officer Rest House.
Train Wagon Shed. Caution: Unwired Turnouts.
Water buffalo flaps ears.
Now, a sparse forest of yellowgreen trees.
Earth baked yellow, tinderized,
Land desiccated.
Then a patch of scruffy palms,
Stand of spindly eucalypts.
Bony white cow nibbles.
Paddy upon paddy lie fallow in the sun.
Stick no bills at Koderma Station.
"Our endeavour is service with dedication
and courtesy."
