Dipesh Pandya 10

tropical malady
atrophied trophies
tiger tibia gun slinger cold killer
juke jive tiger truck jigga
jagannātha faster bigger
rebirth from the earth as a tiger figure
spirits manifest missions
all seeing tiger visions
captivate the human gaze
holding sight memories erased
fly from your mind’s eye the tiger crystallised to jade
spot blinded by fright
slaying deadlines dead from light to flight

liars liars
the tiger moves in silence
hear hear government juice feed media fear
regurgitating wall to wall hating we’re waking
still you tire us
imperial blinkers and blinders
trying to divide us
ideas like truth spreading like the virus
big baby jesus
isis and osiris
gold teeth fangs bite us
through the vaccine and morphine
two million pilgrims in karbala lean for the deen during arba’een
step fast the portal is closing
have you earned your tiger stripes
will your access be denied

Wild City, 2020

it’s not pretty in the wild city
ferocities of atrocities
churning jangal energies
tigers and pirate treasuries
sepoy rebels forced mutinies
mangal pandey effigies
from bengal’s native infantries
burned east india companies
false stories of england’s glories
nique t’amérique et l’angleterre
roll deep with the aghōrīs
fuck boris fuck priti fuck the tories
far cries rise from the east
return the beauty of the beast
linked in colours on silk
chilli pepper tiger milk

Vidya, 2020

caucasian nations
facing tiger invasions
two by twos
tigers and migrants on floating zoos
the life of pi endangered species
castaway aways on surveilled beaches
global swarming to the furthest reaches
from door to door and stoop to stoop
colonial trauma on repeat and loop
erase faces bingo points based system
care givers and fruit pickers pick em
shot callers numbers on the borders
taxi drivers and corner shop hoarders
name callers calling paki pecking orders
a black swan flips the bird on a purple lotus

Endangered Species, 2020