Ten Poems about East Asia
and
Kitsch Nebula Ampersands And
Ralph-Michael Chiaia
Coatlism Press
.
Copyright 2013 Ralph-Michael Chiaia
Coatlism Press' books may be purchased online and in print for educational, business, sales promotional use. For information please write:
[email protected] The author wishes to acknowledge the editors of the following magazines, in which some of these poems have appeared: Cerebral Catalyst, Misanthropists Anonymous, and Zygote in my Coffee. "Phnom Penh" first appeared in Zygote's 4th Print Edition.
Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data
Chiaia, Ralph-Michael.
Ten Poems about East Asia and Kitsch Nebulae Ampersands And.
I. Title II. Poetry
(Coatlism Press)
Publication of this book was made possible in part by donations accrued at the Center for Online Literary Donation
Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com
Table of Contents
Part 1 - Ten Poems about East Asia
Liang Penang
Kuala Lumpur
Bangkok
Phnom Penh (circa 1975)
Manila
Fukuoka
Seoul
Hat Yai
Bangkok Revisited
Phnom Penh Revisited
Singapore
Terenganu
Vietnam (circa 1969)
Part 2 - Kitsch Nebula Ampersands And
Ode to the Pillow
Ode to the & sign (the ampersand)
Ode to Americans
Ode for the Fucking Sake of it
Ode to America
Ode to Kitsch Technology
Mind Slain in Nebulae
Conversation between Person and Mushroom
You, sir (companion piece to Ode to Kitsch Technology)
Error 4(?)9, 357
Mind Slain in Nebulae 2
Conversation between Person and Mushroom 2
Hungry Since Yesterday
Daiku (a death haiku)
Conversation between Person and Mushroom 3
Conversation between Person and Mushroom 4
Part 1
Ten Poems about East Asia
Liang Penang
The water is heavy molasses
hard to imagine there was a tsunami
here in the 30s
The same bird keeps calling out
to the females
as do I to her, she's in
in my wooden longboat,
which drifts past palm trees
as palm oils waft past us
from wooden houses on stilts
at the banks.
An old Malay, he fishes.
Kuala Lumpur
She's up early to go to law class
in her tank top and skirt
sunglasses on.
The Imam sings.
After a movie
she's on the grass with a notebook under her
looking at the twin Islamic star towers.
The Imam sings.
Bangkok
It's moving like it's set to bhangra music:
all the massage parlors, clothing stores,
schoolgirls in uniform, perverts.
It's seething like a flu patient
yet calm as a Buddhist in prayer
wearing his shaved head and saffron robe.
Phnom Penh (circa 1975)
The motorcycles dust bowl
the place now
where the Khmer Army,
all boys,
took all the guys wearing glasses,
the doctors, the teachers,
the nurses
to labor camps
to the killing fields
to the Tung Sleng
S21
past the burnt out
Thai Embassy.
It was the Vietnamese
that came in
stopped Pol Pot—
the tortures and murders
continued
.
even while the
liberation soldiers walked
the capital
beside the Tonle Sap river.
Manila
She's up in the afternoon
nose stuffed up from too much
alcohol. She washes cum off her.
Tonight it's back to the bar and club
to the drinks and touches
the winks and clutches
to the hope that tomorrow
will be real
not another fantasy—
her cell phone buzzes.
Fukuoka
Tidy as a golf course
no, a table with doileys
or a man with a bowtie
or nurse in a frock
Yet neon as a prostitute's pussy
with women in clubs and collars
demure chicks seducing the brothas
Seoul
Cute as Fukuoka but dirty
disorganized, destroyed and rebuilt
natural with mountains, temples, palaces
then modern
while all the time insecure
of the Chinese-Japanese vise grip
while all the time arrogant
of an invisible haecceity.
Hat Yai
incomprehensible scrawl:
Arabic and Thai
the traveler puts his backpack
on back and gets on back of a bike
cycled to the bus station
later, in the police station bombs
will expertly rip the windows out.
Arabic encroaching on Thai now.
Bangkok Revisited
it's fireworks or gunshots,
no bombs.
two lovers hop in a taxi
back to the hotel
where they sip beers and watch the news
of terrorist bombs
ripping through the New Year Celebration
Ralph-Michael Chiaia
is an experimental novelist and poet. He was born in New York City and still considers Long Island home although he travels around the world armed with pens, paper, and a notebook computer. Most of his writing can be found in said computer or you can visit rmchiaia.com for links to his books and publishing history.
He can be reached at:
[email protected] Other Titles
For Monks Only, a petit novella (www. rmchiaia.com)
Glyphic, novella in verse (www. rmchiaia.com)
The Sacred Calendar, book of poems (www. rmchiaia.com)
Coatlism Press
can be reached at:
[email protected] or
coatlism.blogspot.com
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