Kathmandu

So hot the flies just sit still
The old disabled woman on the side of the road selling cough drops and cigarettes by the stick
disease and remedy and poverty and consumerism
What would you think of us now, ancient ones?
Standing in front of your sacred temples with our magic boxes and tour guides.
Noise pollution, air pollution, no light pollution, only Western pollution.
Here, the clouds are temples in the sky
higher beings floating above the
madness, above the buying and selling and leaving and arriving.
Here they stare and watch and try to listen.
Here we stare and watch and try to listen but will never completely understand why
The cows are in the street
The pigeons are fleeting
The dogs are on the move
The cats are nonexistent
The monkeys steal food.
Everyone is working
and everyone is doing nothing at all.