Dioramas: Building the Hill Station

3.

T-squares, compasses. Graphite, 
steel-nib pens, india ink on drafting 
cloth thin enough to let the light 
pass through. Here are plans 

meant to withstand the very run
of time. Over the orange groves,
a new-pencilled name. And along
the ridge, a row of government 

houses: a cabinet. A group
of tiny rooms within rooms where
governors in hats and tailored
suits sit in front of a fireplace.

Sanatorium, ampitheatre, mess hall—
all drawn as part of one line without
lifting the pen. But the mountains  
will never fit into that grid.