City of Live Wires

live- wire city,

where have you come from

you were just a washed up 

extension 

of the Arabian sea

how did you grow 

to be so corrosive 

when oil has been spilt, 

like milk,

all over your brittle skin

live-wire city,

how do you smile 

through a broken jawline, 

bent out of shape,

by the unrelenting influx

of careless caretakers,

home-seekers

and many, moody monsoons

and how do you drink 

from the abrasive skies 

that pour atomised water

into your navel 

and across your thighs

live-wire city

how do you breathe

through your rusty, dusty arteries

and how do you dance

with all those lashings 

from fitful, foreign tides

lapping-up 

against your coastal sides

oh city

of smoke, electric fog and charred life

like a crow on a live wire

you are so

incredibly,

alive