GOUTAM GARY DATTA - Featured Poet

The Serpent Crawls Down

The serpent crawls down ninety pyramid steps

as the equinox light pierces

through the temple window to kiss its head.

East, south, north darken

as its vertebrae creep on hot west stones

while a thousand cheering voices

resonate Mayan walls in Chichen Itza.

What are they celebrating?

Is it the lost?

Or the tourism through the dug outs & the remnants?

Where have the Mayans gone? Who could tell?

As we walk pass the stoned pyramid, hollow ball field,

hanging hoops, listening to colorful stories from guides

to the next resort, tequila bars, swimming pools.

We break bread; bathe in the bright Mayan sun of Cancun,

talk, complain about foods, and put on sun tan lotion.

We forget, we sleep, dream the ruins

as the serpent crawls across the scorching fields.

First published in Rattapallax Magazine, NYC.

Bio:

Goutam Datta is the author of five books of poems; He writes in both English and Bengali . He is the co-editor of African American poetry Anthology Ami Amar Mritur Por Sadhinota Chai Na (I Do Not Want My Freedom When I Am Dead ) with Sunil Gangopadhyay. His works are included in "A Mingling of Waters", an anthology of Bengali and American authors and Rattapallax magazine. Goutam won Jassimuddin Poetry Award(India) in 2005 for Borofay Holood Fool. Sudhindranath Award in 2008, Vashangar Award in 2017. At present, Goutam is working on a webzine Uralpool to create a continuous literary exchange between India & the USA.