You may knock at all their doors-
the president, your senator,
the landlord
Even your own dead mother’s
they may not answer
Won’t answer
But
they say in Aleppo
in the folded caves of Afghanistan, beneath
the black crow coverings of Tehran
If you knock at God’s
door, at some holy gate without St. Peter standing guard
someone
will answer
God or devil
Golden angel or light-bearer
The Catholics offer up their suffering to it
Jews sorrow before its ragged broken stones
Hindus hold grudges about it
Buddhists
make an art of not caring
about it
God or devil
Golden angel or light-bearer
Those who play at human lilas of pain
at tsunamis of corpses littering the beach like seashells
Indifferent clockmakers
Or sexless forces of light
Someone
may answer
who?
*lila -- the play of the gods
Hoshangabad, 2004
the president, your senator,
the landlord
Even your own dead mother’s
they may not answer
Won’t answer
But
they say in Aleppo
in the folded caves of Afghanistan, beneath
the black crow coverings of Tehran
If you knock at God’s
door, at some holy gate without St. Peter standing guard
someone
will answer
God or devil
Golden angel or light-bearer
The Catholics offer up their suffering to it
Jews sorrow before its ragged broken stones
Hindus hold grudges about it
Buddhists
make an art of not caring
about it
God or devil
Golden angel or light-bearer
Those who play at human lilas of pain
at tsunamis of corpses littering the beach like seashells
Indifferent clockmakers
Or sexless forces of light
Someone
may answer
who?
*lila -- the play of the gods
Hoshangabad, 2004
Arlene Zide is a poet, linguist and translator whose poetry has appeared widely in numerous
journals both in the US and India, including Rattapallax, Meridians, Rhino, Xanadu, Women’
s Review of Books, and, Primavera. Her work may also be found in Oyez Review, The
Colorado Review, California Quarterly, The Spoon River Quarterly, Bloodroot, Off Our
Backs, Salome, and in the anthology of poems about 9.11, In Love United, and in India in
Manushi , Debonair, Femina, and in translation in The Observer (Hindi edition), Istahar
(Oriya), etc. Ms. Zide's translations from Hindi, and other Indian languages have appeared
in the Indian P.E.N., Debonair, East Point, Indian Literature, Hindi, and Pratibha, in India,
and in the US, Canada, and UK in Salt Hill, Paintbrush, International Quarterly, Rhino,
Chicago Review, Malahat Review, Rattapallax, Chase Park, International Poetry Review,
Modern Poetry in Translation, Buckle &, Branches, etc.and in anthologies such as Literary
Olympians 1992, and the Oxford Anthology of Indian Poets. On a Fulbright to India, she
collected and translated poetry for her anthology, In Their Own Voice: The Penguin
Anthology of Contemporary Indian Women Poets, Penguin (India), 1993. A book of
translations with poet J.P. Das of contemporary Oriya women poets, Under A Silent Sun,
appeared in 1992 from Vikas Publications. She translated Amrita Pritam’s recent work in
Sometimes I Tell This Tale To The River brought out in 1996 by Hind Pocket Books. Ms.
Zide is a former editor of Primavera, the women’s literature and arts journal out of Chicago.
Currently, she is editing an anthology of Chicago area women poets with, Carolyn Rodgers
called, Chicago Fire.
journals both in the US and India, including Rattapallax, Meridians, Rhino, Xanadu, Women’
s Review of Books, and, Primavera. Her work may also be found in Oyez Review, The
Colorado Review, California Quarterly, The Spoon River Quarterly, Bloodroot, Off Our
Backs, Salome, and in the anthology of poems about 9.11, In Love United, and in India in
Manushi , Debonair, Femina, and in translation in The Observer (Hindi edition), Istahar
(Oriya), etc. Ms. Zide's translations from Hindi, and other Indian languages have appeared
in the Indian P.E.N., Debonair, East Point, Indian Literature, Hindi, and Pratibha, in India,
and in the US, Canada, and UK in Salt Hill, Paintbrush, International Quarterly, Rhino,
Chicago Review, Malahat Review, Rattapallax, Chase Park, International Poetry Review,
Modern Poetry in Translation, Buckle &, Branches, etc.and in anthologies such as Literary
Olympians 1992, and the Oxford Anthology of Indian Poets. On a Fulbright to India, she
collected and translated poetry for her anthology, In Their Own Voice: The Penguin
Anthology of Contemporary Indian Women Poets, Penguin (India), 1993. A book of
translations with poet J.P. Das of contemporary Oriya women poets, Under A Silent Sun,
appeared in 1992 from Vikas Publications. She translated Amrita Pritam’s recent work in
Sometimes I Tell This Tale To The River brought out in 1996 by Hind Pocket Books. Ms.
Zide is a former editor of Primavera, the women’s literature and arts journal out of Chicago.
Currently, she is editing an anthology of Chicago area women poets with, Carolyn Rodgers
called, Chicago Fire.
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Someone May Answer by Arlene Zide
R-KV-R-Y Quarterly Literary Journal
Spring 2006 Poetry
Spring 2006 Poetry