April 21, 2015

Two poems by Hem Raj Bastola


Sphinx on a rickety rock

Devoid of riddle,  
that ancient Sphinx  
stands on a rickety rock,  
staring at the world.

His peculiar verdict—  
now no more than a belching hallucination  
with a giggle: disdainful—  
spreads on the table I'm sitting at.


A face among faces


Did the eyes see ...  
that grinning face  
of a monk in red  
with stinking breath  
(and I examining his  
legs loitering in the street)
influenced by some
intoxicant
after the sun
his spiritual stench ... ?



Hem Raj Bastola is currently working as a freelance local tour guide in and around Pokhara Valley, Nepal. He has worked as a Guest Service Agent at the Hotel Pokhara Grande, as a cave guide, inside the cave area for all tourists as well as office assistance in Guptshor Mahadev Cave, as a substitute representative for Sita Travels, as a freelance trekking guide for tourists to the surrounding Annapurna range and as a book salesman in Annapurna Stationary Center.


Hem also enjoys writing poetry, listening to music and collecting stamps.

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