The Game, Old Delhi

Abstract

The Game, Old Delhi Carol Jenkins (bio) The pigeon keeper is courting you with candy seed,with cooo-tooo-kooo-coo, consonants virtually nothingbut tics to hang those o's on. You look lost, gullible, perched on the terrace wall while the flockthat flew in with you settle, peck, startle and revolve,now birds are walking blithely in and out of cages. You, white bird, mottled with iridescence flecksof malachite, black barred wings, fine black beak,arcing keel: you pace, approach. More seed, more k-oooo, more time and when you step upto the water bowl, I think you're done for Visitor,you have eaten treats and now you drink, hesitate— maybe a bath? The pigeon keeper flashes out a net,its bamboo loop like a snow shoe and that is that.Ignominy for you, shame for your owner: a ransomto your trapper and candy seed for his raiding party. [End Page 164] Carol Jenkins Carol Jenkins has published two collections of poems, Fishing in the Devonian (2008) and Xn (2013), both from Puncher and Wattmann and both short-listed for Premier's Awards. Her most recent book is an illustrated novel, Select Episodes from the Mr Farmhand Series (Puncher and Wattmann). In 2016, she was a judge for the Newcastle Poetry Prize and a guest poet at the International Festival de la Poesie in Quebec. Her poems have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and French. In 2007, she launched River Road Press, which has recorded and published many audio CDs of Australian poets. Copyright © 2019 Wayne State University Press