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14th Anniversary Edition, Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Six Nov-Dec 2023.
Shades Of Shakti, poem by Paul Protheroe.
Shades Of Shakti At Hindu Indian Temple
for Justin, group’s European guitarist
The East/West dichotomy
has been pooh poohed
as jazz fusion marries traditional
Indian music in a ceremony
of evocative creativity;
engaging in mind-stretching
orgasmic ecstasy,
a rich eclectic spectrum of sound.
There’s the touch typist string speed
of the guitarist with his exquisite riffs
and ability to anticipate
his sarangi maestro’s gut generated bedlam,
the mauling antics from the tabla player
who dictates the tempo, initiates
the group’s inaudible bonding
while the anorexic-looking sitar player
with her Ravi Shankar renditions
and the sweet talking vibrations
from the violinist, kneeling before
an abrasive, gifted drummer,
gives this honeymoon performance
a lasting resonance.
Around the corner,
I mean literally,
small time merchants (of a common ancestry)
ruminate on their bruising, cruel confrontations
with knife-carrying, mindless, angry meth addicts,
hellbent on seizing highly prized saleables,
the day’s takings.
© Paul Protheroe
Paul Protheroe 79 retired mail officer, unionist. Stood for the Alliance Party in two elections. Now with Labour. Employment advocate, CAB volunteer. Secretary Cambodian Youth and Recreational Trust. Wrote a book for Cambodian community, now translated into Khmer. Published three books of poetry “One fingered in Papatoetoe” in 2006, “Sometimes like Taurus”2014 and “Creeping alone the bloodline” 2020. Hoping to find a money tree for any future projects. Published in Takahe, Live Encounters Poetry & Writing and most Titirangi publications over the years.