A Poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht

by Mark Bibbins, Editor

Gunga Had Steady Work

You can do it. You just
can’t do it again.
What shall we do if the no
stays no, if the no
keeps coming, and goes on no?
If the sun
keeps blaring out and won’t
shine in? What if
I’m still more gunga-doubt
than ever Gunga Din?

Than ever Gunga Din was.
He hauled water for
British soldiers.

I don’t care if the grapes
are sour as
no grapes are allowed
on this diet.

To my body I say: Though
I’ve belted you
and spanxed you, By
the living fraud
that flanks you, You’re a
better man
than I am, Gunga Din.

He was abused, was brave
on the field, and killed there.
Eulogized as a better man,
by one of the abusers, all
in the mind of Rudyard.

Kingpin of a childhood
in India till banished
to a bitch minder in England
who taught him to flinch.

You can do it. You just
can’t do it again. What will
we do if the no stays no, if
the no keeps coming, goes on
no? If the sun keeps shining out
and won’t shine in? What if I’m
still more gunga doubt than
ever Gunga Din?

Jennifer Michael Hecht’s most recent poetry book is Who Said (Copper Canyon, 2013).