Davey Dreamnation

the happy farang
monk-lovers
bangkok: city of angles
thomas pynchon & the art of anonymity maintenence
cities on the move
tuk-tuk
the postman of kowloon
non-touristic trek
the chao le
takraw monkey
oh blossom
mountains of pai
mr tui
emaciated buddha
the boys on thanon lim khong
low season, last days
the kip & how to carry it
under the pavement, laos
a photographer’s wet dream
cock & football
visit laos year
tintin & the plain [...]

hello! — i am so happy to be a farang
in your country relieved to discover
this word that describes me & pleased
to be here spending all my money on
trinkets & going to the toilet — hooray!
now even my shit is farang! a foreign
body yearning to be assimilated! get
out of thailand i say to my ungrateful
excrement leave [...]

she loved me for a matter of seconds
but her affair with the monks promises
to be a lifelong obsession hey that hurts —
right there doc can you lance jab pop it
cut it out? look at this it’s a postcard
she sent me — monks! you think that’s
trivial? wait till you see the photos!
monks on bicycles monks on [...]

timpani crash /tuk-tuk 
     caged verandah /air-con 
                 little bells /squid vendor 
                             fecund waterway /chao phraya      
                                         police helmet /city intersection 
                             pollution viaduct /sky train 
                 hardware section /chinatown 
     pirate tape stand /thanon khao san 
shining stupa /urban wat

the choice of sunglasses is important
but on the maple leaf? ray-bans are out
too miami vice � beatle specs no dead
giveaway (tint in sunlight) chem-mart?
anonymous average ok collared shirt
i’d prefer a gaudy hunter s. thompson
hawaiian no. but beige is a city colour
camouflage same with pants & as for
loafers? i shudder � afraid so � dumb
haircut also [...]

it is the year 2542 BE — in bangkok
the streets are flooded with people 543
years in advance of the western world
but only 7 hours ahead of GMT — in the
meantime football grips the nation &
entropy invades every available thanon
& soi art flourishes in the city moving
slowly north towards this exhibition of
student works the highlight of [...]

life —
cough-cough go-go fast-fast slow-slow
break-break flow-flow honk-honk hel-lo
where-you go-go tuk-tuk hi-ho
same-same no-no thao-rai cheap-cheap
silk-silk wat-wat guess-so o-kay
go-go gem-shop strip-show no-no
go-slow wait-wait oh-ho go-go
bang-kok tuk-tuk cough-cough stop-go
one-two i-know left-left no-no
go-go tuk-tuk cough-cough khao-san
face-mask whiz-whiz cough-cough poi-son
cough-cough tuk-tuk cough-cough go-go
same-same don’t-stop cough-cough car-fume
tuk-tuk cough-cough cough-cough tuk-tuk
— death

given the unenviable task of delivering
mail in a cantonese walled city charged
with entropy & chaos criss-crossing its
aerial corridors conduits they call them
linked towers that change positions days
how the garbage piles up forming strata
to be studied by future archaeologists -
he can never decipher the old city’s next
move & remains astounded by the most
innocuous envelope’s habit of [...]

COME & SEE THE HILL TRIBES PLOUGHING
UP THEIR OPIUM FIELDS IN PREPARATION
FOR NEXT YEAR’S CROP OF NESCAFE! THIS
TREK HAS BEEN APPROVED BY BOTH THE THAI
& US GOVERNMENTS ALONG WITH JOINT
MILITARY EXERCISES IT WILL CONSTITUTE
THE MAIN THRUST OF THEIR WAR AGAINST
DRUGS NO RAFTING ELEPHANT HIKING OR
SOUVENIR-SHOPPING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
JUST A WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT THIS ONCE
IN A LIFETIME [...]

housed in two human zoos constructed
for their survival’s sake on the east &
west coasts of koh lantah it’s good to know
that the chao le are still allowed to play
football on the beach at low-tide its wave
sounds mimic the crowd-roars of wembley
coming down the supermarine cable all
the young men & boys clip their finger &
toenails in [...]

my name is mud as in good i help you with
thai translation i am monkey & i am crazy
good at takraw & at takraw kicks — do you
see me where i practice? yes? at the beach
with a ball of flotsam-styrofoam & a piece
of string tied to a tree so i can kick & jump
like a [...]

come here blossom fall down
here on my lap & let me
run my fingers through your
delicate pink petals the way
you used to like it in spring-
time when you were all in
bloom oh blossom remember
every season is another reason
to love you tender blossom come
on back over here don’t let
the wind blow your fragrance
in another direction blossom
let me [...]

pai bursting through the fog to fly in low
across the rice paddies dumping its deadly
load & setting the pond a-tremble with
aftershocks the size of frogs now skipping
the mountains of pai untold numbers of
karen separatists pray fervently for a rain
cloud to carpet bomb the ponds of burma
we saw one coming over the mountains
along the [...]

mr tui you’d have to win the “safest driver
in thailand” award you were a man of few
words but smooth driving actions eg your
easy familiarity with the nine hundred &
forty two sharp corners between chiang mai
& pai mr tui you knew when to sound your
horn around a hairpin bend when to change
down to second when to [...]