Billie Dee

The Narrow-Gauge Train to Kandy

                 mountain mist
                 the tea plantation dotted
                 with bowing pickers

At the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, Gautama’s left incisor rests within
seven nested golden boxes behind an altar mounded with blue lotus
blossoms, the intoxicating fragrance of which induces a state of reverence
and awe amidst the clamor of temple drums and chanting barefoot monks.

                 a procession
                 of painted elephants—
                 iron shackles

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About the Author

Billie Dee is the former U.S. National Library Service Poet Laureate. She earned her doctorate at UCI, has won numerous poetry contests, publishes online and off. She lives in the Chihuahuan Desert with her family and a betta fish named Ramon.

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