Tag: Travel (page 11 of 12)

armed with their hideouts & slingshots
& smiles they gather at nightfall beside
a rocky river road to compete in monied
contests dodge tuk-tuks & flurries of
laughter now pulling the notes from their
pockets & placing them on the road’s river
brown & then throwing their thongs from
line-marks towards jackpots of fluttering
notes /see the worn old thongs skim! &
the bigger boys win but the stream of lao
notes stutters onwards it’s 8 in the pm &
time to go home now everybody’s happy
& one lucky boy’s an instant millionaire …

depressed as the prices no longer
deluded by smiles passing signposts
kilometres coming no closer to what
were once called destinations – border
crossings & pass-outs different games
same rules waiting for the photo-op
that might make the cost of the ticket
worthwhile – low season, last days &
the promise of last rains again linger
as clouds obstruct an aeroplane’s view
let tomorrow’s dawn break as high as
a season – bright season, first day

in bundles my friend!
in every pocket!
stuff those notes!
hang the exchange rate!
just get out there &
start handing it over!
spend it daily!
spend it gaily!
but wait – there’s more!
it’s all for sale!
everything must go!
clothes looks lifestyles –
out the door!
but wait – there’s still more!
you can buy it –
come on & try it!
talk’s cheap –
you can buy that too!
but don’t forget to bargain!

under the pavement, laos in dissent:
a skin full of worn bones, the footprint’s
masseuse, a fist full of pavements & laos

under laos, the mekhong’s predictions:
swallowing bombs, reeking dimly of lao
beer on a menu full of laos & mekhongs

under the mekhong, the current’s advance:
upon an unknown beach, a silent chorus,
from a porous row of mekhongs & currents

under the current, the riverbed’s half-truths:
imprints of bottles where eyes once shone,
yawns in a mouth full of currents & riverbeds

under the riverbed, the earth’s velocity:
half-lies boring rings in fire, extinguished
by the scrutiny of riverbeds & earth

under the earth, the fossil’s remainder:
snails that spiral, ladders of chance, scratches
in sandstone outlining earth & fossils

under the fossil, the stone’s logic:
a dead language rehydrated then vaporised
by the closeness of fossils & stones