& beards are worn at half-mast;

on the 190 contagion coats the seats

in sedimentary layers, rain maps windows &

we talk kalighat, goats & circling priests

as though 'out of here' could be anything more

than villages hushed into cold churchbells,

supping the religion of pity, faking stigmatas

during puja & Sai Baba brand snowdomes

shaking every bustee lean-to in this

bad blood animist Black Mary town.