Reflections on a 10th Century Fragment, by Daniel Lusk

A Red Sandstone Lower Body of a Yakshi (India) c. 10th century

Reflections on a 10th Century Fragment
  
A discrete elbow of the art museum,
the lower torso of a Yakshi--semi-divine, 
notes the label on the wall. Location unknown.
 
Also lost, her naked wrists and ankles, their bangles, 
her feminine abundances. A sprite fond of trees. 
 
Coleridge in mufti stands transfixed, ignoring
agnostic admonitions not to idolize an icon.
The raddled hem of her garment, 
subtle mons, tensile thigh poised as if a moment
in her hypnotic dance.
 
A goddess manqué. Boat of a pelvis
meant to rock. Like the truncated mannequin
at L’Ivresse (a shop in Essex-on-Onion),
also without, except the suggestive twist 
of knickers with (imagine) Ashoka flower lace. 
 
Next to the foxy mannequin derriere,
as sister poet blew intoxicating verbal smoke 
and veiled allusions, he dreamt eyes 
soft as flowers and other figments of desire.
 
Mystery, how one fragment implies a fractal,
merges with another (all time being one time),
centuries ancient and at the reading yesterday. 
A goddess is a goddess. 
 
Paused a moment. Torque
of heart’s rest—nada that follows
each r-wave blip on the EKG monitor when spirit 
animates flesh  (skips a beat). Augurs admiration.
 
Look here: We all have a ticket to ride 
(mind the gap). An iamb then a prayer. 

Daniel Lusk

Daniel Lusk is author of The Vermeer Suite and other books, most recently Every Slow Thing, poems (Kelsay Books 2022), and Farthings eBook (Yavanika Press 2022). His work is published widely in literary journals, and his genre-bending essay “Bomb” (New Letters), was awarded a 2016 Pushcart Prize. Native of the prairie Midwest and a former commentator on small press books for NPR, Daniel is a Senior Lecturer of English Emeritus at the University of Vermont.