Poem from Malaysia

On roads
On buses
On unfamiliar
Lilting roads
In unfamiliar
Lilting lands
With change in my pocket
Change in the air
Searching for faeries
And their stories
Combing the McDonald’s
That sell
Tropical burgers
For original truth
They’re waking me
Instead of
Or
As well as
Allah
At 5:50am
In a dark jungle
Down the road
From the Chinese temple
Across from Ganesh
Who has replaced
Melded with
Ridden on
Overthrown
The real elephants
So fleshy and full of blood
Small creeks flow
Open wounds on the land
Latex gashes
Filling our cups
Came here
To see the place
To eat it whole
But consuming spirit
Has never been easy

2003.01.01