Burial Practice

By Srikanth Reddy Srikanth Reddy

Then the pulse.

Then a pause.

Then twilight in a box.

Dusk underfoot.

Then generations.

—

Then the same war by a different name.

Wine splashing in the bucket.

The erection, the era.

Then exit Reason.

Then sadness without reason.

Then the removal of the ceiling by hand.

—

Then pages & pages of numbers.

Then the page with the faint green stain.

Then the page on which Prince Theodore, gravely wounded,

is thrown onto a wagon.

Then the page on which Masha weds somebody else.

Then the page that turns to the story of somebody else.

Then the page scribbled in dactyls.

Then the page which begins Exit Angel.

Then the page wrapped around a dead fish.

Then the page where the serfs reach the ocean.

Then a nap.

Then the peg.

Then the page with the curious helmet.

Then the page on which millet is ground.

Then the death of Ursula.

Then the stone page they raised over her head.

Then the page made of grass which goes on.

—

Exit Beauty.

—

Then the page someone folded to mark her place.

Then the page on which nothing happens.

The page after this page.

Then the transcript.

Knocking within.

Interpretation, then harvest.

—

Exit Want.

Then a love story.

Then a trip to the ruins.

Then & only then the violet agenda.

Then hope without reason.

Then the construction of an underground passage between us.

Source: Facts for Visitors (University of California Press, 2004)

Biography

Srikanth Reddy grew up in Chicago. He earned an AB from Harvard College, an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa, and a PhD in English literature from Harvard University. He is the author of the collection of poems Facts for Visitors (2004).

Reddy employs a variety of forms, including syllabics, terza rima, and the prose poem; his poems are collagelike in their variety and inclusiveness. Facts for Visitors was . . .

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