blame game: it is not my fault

repeated the cab driver

as he swooshed and swirled

through the desi traffic

with cars and carts

and men and machines

in various states of decay

rushing, idling, squeezing

with a foot on the pedal

and a hand on the horn

'it is not my fault'

 

fault? blame? confession? 

adam would have smiled

 

quakes, tsunamis,

holocausts, ethnic cleansing

(all holocausts, not just that one)

and greed that blinds

individuals and nations

precariously countered

by grit, will and concern

for adam's progeny

by eve's children

who descend to salvage

flustered dignity

 

conflicts borne of nature

fermented on earth

whirling between

the many dazed and

the unconfused few

 

hirsute adam

would have revealed

mona's first smile

(leonardo tells me)

a metonymy for

'not-my-fault'