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In India, Soaked in Sweat and Sex

by Ashok Rajamani


On the wet summer bed sheet soaked in sweat and sex,
On that first hot sticky night in bed together in Mumbai,
I had Leenu in the bedroom
grunts
substituted for conversation.
She bit her lip and shut her eyes
until
the one
the one
the one
the one and a half minutes were over
in that sticky summertime sheet.

Moon outside the window:
This Mumbai moon, so bright, so big, so bold
was a giant eyeball peeking at a Gorilla Brahmin
pounding his virgin bride.
After I had finished my goal
and after I had fallen asleep
in a liquid gale of deep, intense snoring
Leenu was able to make out
the small bloodstains on her drenched bedsheet.
She looked up at the ceiling
mortified that this painful ordeal
was what the entire world thought was so great.


Copyright © 2010 by Ashok Rajamani

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