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…

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…

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…

fireworks rupture the temple on the hill’s serenity the interior’s panorama suffocated by a buddhist vision of hell flavoured with more than a dash of hindu horror – here’s a massacre of men & women sawn in half by grinning & willing fellow men & women here’s old buddha himself count his ribs this is…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

ah! luang prabang ancient capital unesco world heritage magnificently preserved in pristine condition please bring cameras film & kleenex for the mop-up /click! & we’re off through the view-finder: monks kiddies grannies trannies ripe for developing when you get back to your secret laboratory national geographic are definitely interested oh i’m spent! /i’m spent again!…

cock & football! it’s time to get up & don’t those horny roosters know it! cock & football! cock & football! around the brown river bend here comes dawn’s breaker rise & shine cock & football! cock & football! cock-a-doodle-do! it’s morning once again & don’t those poor hens know it! cock & football! your…

visit laos & bring your wheelbarrow pretend this isn’t communism gone nuts ignore the poorly-organised protesters turn a blind eye to the fall of the wall incarcerate yourself in a capitalist prison you’re lucky to have been arrested here now there’s nothing left between you & the socialist state’s caring attitude towards intellectuals & slogan-dodgers…

standing at attention a column of white gums awaits its commander’s final orders – over the top! down the embankment! secure all garden plots & fish traps! then down the mekhong we go – all in a row sir yes sir drowning at attention sir ye loyal diggers /saplings planted when? & for what strange…

baht (t): thai unit of currency (in 1999 1 baht= AUD 0.25) chao le (t): sea gypsies chao phraya (t): the river that flows through bangkok cock & football (l): a lao brand of rolling papers farang (t): any western (read: white) person or tourist karen (t): one of the indigenous hill tribes of northern…