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.