Ballad of the Taj Mahal

A restaurant with fountain and water-clock
Comprised one plan for a shut down toilet block - Domed like a mosque, chained, under padlock;
   Enshrined as the Taj Mahal.

Years long and rusty this privy stood disused,
Many a gland, they say, was here defused;
Such gentlemen taken short were not amused -    Preyed on at the Taj Mahal.

Came here the councillors plans to invent,
They prayed that success would be heaven sent;
But know their bowels were as thrifty as lent,    Squatting in the Taj Mahal.

The saturated walls soon gave short shrift
To new laid plans when the precincts were sniffed - Many shed a tear over schemes gone adrift,
   To jazz up the Taj Mahal.

A smart Greek suggested a drive-in car wash,
So why go down-market when you can go posh?
It's all one to derros - they don't give a toss,
   Pissing on the Taj Mahal.

Oh, the writing, it's certain, was on the wall,
Though not all such sentiments were shared by all - Still, drains will gurgle after heavy rainfall,
   In troughs by the Taj Mahal.

If the walls of Jericho fell to the trumpet;
Know that these will stand or fall on their merit,
No matter what gay boy sets out to mourn it -
   Lost days at the Taj Mahal.

Some dream of precious stones from far away,
Some of amethyst, or onyx with pearl inlay,
Some of greenstone from down Hokitika way;
   To brighten the Taj Mahal.

If fire engines scream, and the traffic roars by,
And walls have ears, though you cannot guess why -
Take a glass of chablis beneath a domed sky,
   To salute the Taj Mahal.

Note: The public toilet block known as the 'Taj Mahal' designed by architects of the Wellington City Engineering Office (in Wellington, New Zealand) was built in 1928. The building's design is not without a certain, architectural humour; its curved north and south end walls, each capped with a dome, resemble that of a 'mosque'. This quasi-imperial style is listed on the Heritage Inventory as 'Inter War Free Classical'. The edifice functioned as a WCC public toilet for forty years and finally closed in 1966. Fortunately, a strong public outcry saved the building from demolition. For about a decade it was used as storage space for nearby Downstage Theatre. In 1978, after extensive renovations, the Taj Mahal reopened as an Art Gallery and Patisserie and became, latterly, a restaurant. Environmental artists, Terry Archer and David Waterman, were commissioned to paint a fresco on the northern dome ceiling by the owner, Cynthia Cass, who bought the property in 1980. The building remains a significant cultural landmark and currently operates as a bar.

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Biography

Stephen Oliver b. 1950, Wellington, New Zealand. One year diploma course in Magazine Journalism, Wellington Polytechnic. Radio NZ Broadcasting School. Casual Radio Actor. Lived in Paris, Vienna, London, San Francisco, Greece and Israel. Signed on with the radio ship, 'The Voice of Peace' broadcasting in the Mediterranean out of Jaffa. Freelanced as production voice, newsreader, announcer, journalist, copy and features writer. Poems widely represented in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, USA, UK, South Africa, Canada, etc. Books published: Henwise (1975), & Interviews (1978), Autumn Songs (1978), Letter To James. K. Baxter (1980), Earthbound Mirrors (1984), Guardians, Not Angels (1993), Islands of Wilderness - A Romance (1996), Election Year Blues (1999), Unmanned (1999). Night of Warehouses: Poems 1978-2000, HeadworX www.headworX.eyes.co.nz (2001). Covers five collections of poetry and spans two decades. In addition, Stephen Oliver's work can be found in a number of online literary magazines, including: Ariga, Author Network, Comrades, Drought: A Literary Review, Electric Acorn, 42Opus, Gangway, Melic Review, New Hope International, Poetic Voices, Southern Ocean Review, Southern Cross Review, Trout, Turbine, Stride, Blackmail Press ,Virtual Writer, Zuzu's Petals. Recent prose work in: Deep South www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth [Contempt: A Survey]. Thylazine www.thylazine.org [One Day In The Life of Vicki Viidikas], SoMa Literary Review [One Day In The Life of Richard Ramos]. Stephen Oliver is a transtasman poet based in Sydney, Australia. Contact: PO Box 1661, Strawberry Hills, Sydney, NSW, 2012, Australia. Contacts: sao@smartchat.net.au http://people.smartchat.net.au/~sao/