The Selective Memory of the Acolytes of Ganesh

The Selective Memory of the Acolytes of Ganesh (a work in progress)

Baby Ganesh had so many arms that
instead of suckling he milked his mother
like a cow

Ganesh had so many arms that he
couldn’t stop picking his trunk
which grew red and raw

He had so many arms that he played
under the Bramble bushes for
painful months at a time

so many that he hung like a needy spider
in the corner of Pravati’s room

he had so many arms that they
kept him awake for hours at night
with the shadow-lurch of puppet play

but when he cried, overwhelmed
by this crawling multitude,
they became maternal;
a soft cradle of snakes
hissing in the rushes

Ganesh had so many arms that he played
the Chicago Bulls at Boston Garden
and won

he had so many arms he fought a band of ninja
without spilling his sake

so many that they had to play rock, paper, scissors
to see who got to jerk him off

Ganesh had so many arms that he couldn’t
stop challenging himself to multiplayer Warcraft

so many that he was the king of second base (ping!)

so many arms that he plucked 100 whales from the ocean
to practice kissing on 

and so many arms that they downtrou-ed him
when his huge mammalian head threatened
to explode

Ganesh had so many arms that his
fingers grew as fast as bamboo

so many that he carried panthers,
vultures, snakes and sharks as currency

so many that after dinner he picked his teeth
with the bones of all the elephants ever

Ganesh had so many arms that giant squid
lusted from the sea to stalk him

so many arms that carnival rides
burned with neon jealousy

Ganesh had so many arms that he wrote
the language of love with a thousand pencils
on his fifteen-minute smoko

so many that he flew like a pterodactyl
through the air plucking the elderly from
small villages

and so many many arms that he held
every lonely thing in his micro-cosmic palms