Poem: Mother Ganga
This week’s Poet’s Corner contribution comes from Stephen House and was written during a literature residency in India.
Mother Ganga
I stand
hold the rusty chain
that stops bathing people
being swept away
and lower my body
into the healing stream
of Mother Ganga
flowing fast into the plains of India
from the Himalayas north
and unexpectedly
(for I am a sceptic
until something
is scientifically proven)
I instantly feel my inner dirt
being washed away
and a renewal take place
and I do know
|what I feel
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whether I believe it
or not.
Stephen House lives in Adelaide. The recipient of awards and nominations as a poet, playwright and actor, he has had 20 plays produced, with the majority commissioned and published by Australian Plays Transform. He has also been the recipient of international literature residencies from the Australia Council for the Arts, and an Asialink India literature one during which today’s poem was written, and featured by the UK Poetry Life and Times. Two monologue chapbooks – ‘The Ajoona Guest House’, also written on his Asialink India residency, and ‘Real and Unreal’ – have been published by ICOE Press Australia, with a third chapbook forthcoming. His poetry has been variously published, and he performs his monologues widely. His play ‘Johnny Chico’, ran for four years in Spain. More about Stephen can be found here.