Monkey Puzzle

Mani Rao

Excerpted from Gods R Us, Anomalous Press Chapbook Contest Notable

click here to read about the full project

Large as the sky stands on a leaf
Small as a thorn on Ravana’s seat
Try telling him
The sun’s not a peach

Can’t find an herb uproot the mountain
Ocean’s vast so is devotion

Somewhat out of proportion Hanuman
A heart so precise it
Only has room for Ram

As a child, Hanuman leaps up and reaches for the sun thinking it edible. At the end of this incident, he receives the power to become as large or as small when he pleases. When Lakshmana is injured in the battle with Ravana, Hanuman is sent to fetch a healing herb; he cannot find it, and not wanting to waste time, returns with the entire mountain instead. Hanuman proves his ardent devotion to Rama by tearing open his chest to show who lives in his heart.

Mani Rao is the author of seven books of poetry and a translation of the Bhagavad Gita. www.manirao.com has links to her publications.

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In This Issue

Mani Rao
...Sing to Me
...Monkey Puzzle
Steve Bradbury
translating Ye Mimi
...In the Mountains Near at Hand
Bradley Schmidt
translating Ulrike Almut Sandig
...was the table, was the chair
...solar eclipse
...when you're not here
Monika Zobel
...To Begin at Breath
...Monumental
...Der Immigrant sucht die unbenannten Länder
Michael Schorsch
translating Venantius Fortunatus
...from Fortunatus
Sarah Tourjee
...from Ghost
Janis Freegard
...Alice and the Personality Disorder
...Who is Alice
...Alice Waits
Becca Barniskis
...Xavier Box
...Mimi
...X
...M
Liat Berdugo
...Just the Heads
...When Some Things Fail
...All Men Equal
...There Might Have Been Some Mastication
Askold Melnyczuk
...Dad, Poet, 1954 ad nauseum
Laura McCullough
...Help for the Reality Challenged
...That's the Game, Boys
...Bowie My Hair Goddess Grow
Michael Gushue
...Pachinko Mouth, First Turn
...Pachinko Mouth, Second Turn
...A Valediction for When Words Fail
Aaron Crippen
...closing his eyes he
...fresh-stripped of skin
...He Gives You Your Vision
...the moon
...under your foot
Sandra Doller
translating Éric Suchère
...21
...22
Kendra Greene
...from Anatomy of a Museum
Mark Wunderlich
...Prayer in a Time of Sickness
Amber Ginsburg
...Edge