The Rwanda Discovery Hostel
Under a roofed deck
a television screens
an endless loop
of wildlife videos—
a lion skulking long grasses
leaps into the air,
returning to the earth,
mouth full of feathers. Now
it’s a leopard
eating a rat. A swallow’s
sudden violence sweeps in
under my table,
plucks crumbs
from the tiled floor.
Rishikesh
The loose, white clothing
flutters in a faint breeze,
hanging from the mystic.
The Ganges rumbles outside
the unscreened, open window.
Inside we hold postures,
sweat pooling in small cavities
on the backs of hands roped
with veins and thin bones—
motionless in Warrior Two.
Samye Monastery
Curtained behind a hanging blanket,
Tibetan monks dip their hands in icy water,
shape and mold with finger tips
and hollow bones and thread,
shaving the edges off the dyed
yak butter, unearthing pink lotus petals,
a seated Buddha, his head crowned
in gold, his crossed legs covered
by a red robe and soles of feet yak
butter yellow—everything a translation.
About the author:
Sarah Dickenson Snyder has two poetry collections, The Human Contract and Notes from a Nomad. She was selected for the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference both times she applied. One poem was nominated for best of Net in 2017. Recent work appears in Chautauqua Literary Magazine, RHINO, and The Sewanee Review. https://sarahdickensonsnyder.com/
