Poem.....Goin' Troppo in Siem Reap (2013)

Clouds in ten layers brought me
inquisitively
back to Siem Reap
Languidly writing beside drying waters
Strolling in heat drenched streets.

I became kissed by brief rains
Stroked by sun
And finally deferred
To salad jazz cafes
Where Americans and Australians gather
Watching motorcycle taxis.

Charity hands give thumbs up
Blind musician toots flute
Anonymous cars pass
In dust sprinkled streets
Beneath Buddha smiles
And sudden sun.

We wrangle the difference
Between Art and art
Citing men who paint ants
And men who don’t
Men who splash abrupt rainbows
And men concerned with mimesis.

Eventually the debate seems limp
Like so many watches
When listening to Edith Piaf
Sparrow of Paris
And seeing the birdless street
Outside Srey Cafe.

Cambodia you would haunt me
Even without Colors
Angkor
French Cirque
Children slipperless and smiling.
It would have something to do with the pain
The stoic resigned pain
That you swallow like so many cold foreign beers.