John's Gita

russian ballet bookstore
intersection of vulture &
boundary shelves ache from
the weight of summer palaces
yachts state banquets troops
in review gold &

lapis lazuli the river god
Lennon carried aloft trademark
specs ramshackle palanquin &
saffron-clad ju-ju devotees
eyes down absorbed in text     eunuchs
bound in green muslin

the cover reads Collected Snakes
the frontispiece bears the anonymous
hand-written inscription : colour by numbers.
make a house of the world. imagine everything.