Poetry Preview and Interview
with Poet Vikram Masson
with Poet Vikram Masson
Ganesh at the Yard Sale
by
Vikram Masson
And there he is, right hand held up in blessing,
perched atop a crate of LPs, next to a stack
of tiki torches and dad’s petunia spritzers,
his brass body streaked with dust. A patina
shadows his eyes and trunk, as if he’s aged.
O remover of obstacles, lord of the intellect,
how could I have forgotten you?
I used to bathe you in milk, circle you with incense
and dress you in swatches of fiery red silk,
just as my grandmother taught.
How could my brother have set you here?
You may have become a curio in some
tarot reader’s cabinet—your belly rubbed
like a laughing buddha, one dollar a wish.
As a little girl, I prayed to you with my forehead
pressed to your feet. I prayed so that the stars
would not fall from the sky; prayed before every
exam; prayed after my first kiss. When my
mother’s eyebrows fell out, I asked only
that you take away her pain.
I used to dread my friends saying, Wow,
you worship elephants, when they visited.
I am sorry for that. I loved that I could see you,
my pot-bellied protector, unlike some
abstraction, an absent daddy-in-the-sky.
In college I forgot about you while learning how
to deconstruct religion into power relations.
And since then, in a world of mindless work,
of drunken Sunday brunches, of regretted
nights with men I could not respect, I’ve shushed
any impulse that would evoke you.
I lift you and feel the warmth of a girl’s
accumulated prayers. Now that my
parents are gone and the artifacts of
our lives sold and scattered for good,
I will take you, little lord, with me.
Interview
1. In your poem you speak of the “warmth of a girl’s accumulated prayers.” Would you argue that a sacred place is more than just a physical location or object? Is it also tied to human hope and acts of reverence?
A sacred space is most certainly more than a physical location or object. In meditation, awareness itself can become a scared space. However, in the eastern traditions, sacred objects can have special significance. The speaker of the poem happens upon a representation (murti) of Ganesh that she revered as a child. Seeing it again after so many years evokes memories and kindles hope that some spiritual dimension she feels she has lost can be regained.
2. In today’s chaotic, fast-paced world, how do you make time to nurture and honor the sacred spaces in your life?
My primary practice is mindfulness meditation. As noted above, awareness, especially non-dual awareness, can be a sacred space.
3. What is one of your favorite lines of poetry, and why?
I've loved this short poem called "Eternity" by William Blake.
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingéd life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.
This poem distills an important wisdom: joys of any kind are transient; one who wishes to live life fully should pay constant attention to the present.
Vikram Masson is a lawyer by training who lives in Richmond, Virginia. His poetry has been most recently featured in the Amethyst Review and the Allegro Poetry Journal, and is forthcoming in The American Journal of Poetry.
A sacred space is most certainly more than a physical location or object. In meditation, awareness itself can become a scared space. However, in the eastern traditions, sacred objects can have special significance. The speaker of the poem happens upon a representation (murti) of Ganesh that she revered as a child. Seeing it again after so many years evokes memories and kindles hope that some spiritual dimension she feels she has lost can be regained.
2. In today’s chaotic, fast-paced world, how do you make time to nurture and honor the sacred spaces in your life?
My primary practice is mindfulness meditation. As noted above, awareness, especially non-dual awareness, can be a sacred space.
3. What is one of your favorite lines of poetry, and why?
I've loved this short poem called "Eternity" by William Blake.
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingéd life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.
This poem distills an important wisdom: joys of any kind are transient; one who wishes to live life fully should pay constant attention to the present.
Vikram Masson is a lawyer by training who lives in Richmond, Virginia. His poetry has been most recently featured in the Amethyst Review and the Allegro Poetry Journal, and is forthcoming in The American Journal of Poetry.