Braided Mongolian hasp,
Ethiopian jade-stamped silver clasp –
anything that makes the home crowd gasp.
Desire to please. Grasp
Buddha’s dimpled lip-curve.

Centuries on, inheritors still
Unpacking: Crane’s-bill
embroidered Chinese shoes
(which hold no clues
they’re meant for adult feet, rose
budded boats to damage baby’s toes),
Inuit seal-intestine anorak,
unfolding piss-hued paper kayak.

Osiris, Isis, Rama, beak-jawed Set,
Spanish Madonna’s crusted jet …
Kali, non-domestic, hearth
warming Bes, mirth
rocked. I coveted carved caribou
(thumb-size ivory, bonasi antlers to die for).

Not sure
the grand tour’s over. Saw
through a shop’s fake Arabian slitty –
windows – hippy-designer couples clasping gritty
Sequoia dream-catchers, advice books (pretty
ropy) on Feng-Shui. Rainy granite city
seldom welcomes sun gods. Pity
the Indonesian puppet I just bought pays shitty
wages to the maker.