Poem
New Year Brainwave
after re-reading The Tempest (for Ranjitda)
'You give me fever' --
Madonna on the iPod
Pouring her heart out. Nursing a common cold,
I dwell on the
Phenomenology of real fevers, The mellow pleasures of
The low-grade sort –
Dry skin, mildly aching joints, Mind disengaged from action –
You could fancy yourself a Buddhist monk
Or yogi in placid samadhi; The irony of 'moderate' fever –
You move from chill
And tachycardia to stupor; And high-grade fever that guarantees
The high of delirium,
After which comes hyperpyrexia -- And farewell life!
Sipping hot tea in bed,
I ride a New Year brainwave: What if the peddlers of progress
Could equip wielders of power
With an efficient Fever-inducing device?
For writers, artists, intellectuals,
Meditation-conducive 'low-grade', No more than 39o C or 102.2o F,
Should work wonders,
And recalcitrant political activists Could be taught instant moderation
With moderate fever,
39-40o C or 102.2-104o F. Jails could be dismantled
And criminals sentenced at home
To a term of 'high-grade', 39-42o C or 104-107.6o F.
For capital crimes it's higher still.
The Global Mega-Power With its Mega-Fever machines
Could deal similarly with the whole world:
Revive Oriental spiritual traditions With a 'low-grade' pandemic, tame
Rogue states with a mega-dose of 'moderate',
Give terrorists a sharp taste of hyperpyrexia. A perfect solution
To mankind's ills,
Don't you think? Utopia! What is it you're saying?
Product of a febrile imagination?
So is every bleeding utopia, my friend. And now for another nice hot cuppa! Kaiser Haq is poet and professor of English at Dhaka University.
Madonna on the iPod
Pouring her heart out. Nursing a common cold,
I dwell on the
Phenomenology of real fevers, The mellow pleasures of
The low-grade sort –
Dry skin, mildly aching joints, Mind disengaged from action –
You could fancy yourself a Buddhist monk
Or yogi in placid samadhi; The irony of 'moderate' fever –
You move from chill
And tachycardia to stupor; And high-grade fever that guarantees
The high of delirium,
After which comes hyperpyrexia -- And farewell life!
Sipping hot tea in bed,
I ride a New Year brainwave: What if the peddlers of progress
Could equip wielders of power
With an efficient Fever-inducing device?
For writers, artists, intellectuals,
Meditation-conducive 'low-grade', No more than 39o C or 102.2o F,
Should work wonders,
And recalcitrant political activists Could be taught instant moderation
With moderate fever,
39-40o C or 102.2-104o F. Jails could be dismantled
And criminals sentenced at home
To a term of 'high-grade', 39-42o C or 104-107.6o F.
For capital crimes it's higher still.
The Global Mega-Power With its Mega-Fever machines
Could deal similarly with the whole world:
Revive Oriental spiritual traditions With a 'low-grade' pandemic, tame
Rogue states with a mega-dose of 'moderate',
Give terrorists a sharp taste of hyperpyrexia. A perfect solution
To mankind's ills,
Don't you think? Utopia! What is it you're saying?
Product of a febrile imagination?
So is every bleeding utopia, my friend. And now for another nice hot cuppa! Kaiser Haq is poet and professor of English at Dhaka University.
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