by Sneha Sundaram
Manna, he called me.
I called him Amour.
Smiling salty wet tears,
Crashing down
Like the waves at Bandstand.
The frenzied adulation of Mannat1,
Special prayer and wishing,
If I can’t live it,
Shouldn’t the photo suffice?
I was here, baroque.
With the rhythmic crash of waves
On these very rocks,
Lunar, cyclical,
Different by day,
Different by night.
Like Bach, harmonious,
Hit by the waves,
Smashed by the rocks.
Like a misshapen pearl
In elaborate operatic dance.
Viols and Harpsichords played
‘My 7 to 9 funk’
As I called him
Salvation.
1 Mannat is Hindi word meaning special prayer or wish. It is also the name of the mansion of the popular Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan by the sea in Mumbai, India.