malim nawar morning extended (2011)

 malim nawar morning

surreal hummingbird morning
garden papaya drips dew
kingfishers flash blue against candyfloss sky

judy collins sings of chelsea
warming chill of my jeep cabin
softening hard pangolin killing road
taking me back to the three cat stooges in my compound

warming sun brings bougainvillea bright
golden helliconia
jasmine
and that mangy
mangled one-eyed thief into my kitchen
stealing fish

brighter
hotter morning
sky cleared to pale blue
sun pounding grass to yellow
bleaching paintwork
sending cobras slithering for shade

another languid day in malim nawar
post colonial
lost tin town
forgotten as the centuries and railway track passes
leaving mrs hameed’s bollywood restaurant
feeding post ramadan thosa eaters
sitting between time and teh tarik

another hot day in malim nawar
malim nowhere
sun pinches
forehead furrows
hand shades eyes
shouty woman resumes
after metal rabbit break
dropping joss dust
mandarins
too much noodles to shake a chopstick at
roti cannai puffed and ready to go

stray dog sleeps adjacent to rail line
honda 50 bumps up and over footbridge
stopping
momentarily
gawping at post colonial houses
brick columns
cats sheltering
children
cockerels pecking colonial remains

muezzin calling faithful to pray
sweet sounds filling ears
hearts
emptiness left by materialism
rivalling nightly hokkien karaoke

another fine day in malim nawar
ah lam nets mining pool fish
pa yusop stretches tea
cup to enamel cup
glass to chipped glass
dreaming of mecca
30 years passing
children gone
empty space of departed wife

pregnant lady mountain pushes up
revealing belly
on another bright
clear
malim nowhere day
as my jeep
rolls
slowly
on

Grandmother screams lata
as I drive
into the kampong
past
blind sisters selling kuey
shed full of cats
spilling
onto the dirt track
path
chasing golden necked
proud cockerels into
sun dried torch ginger

Always on
puffing black smoke
back down that lane
of memory
carbide chimney sold brick
by red brick
dragon fruit weirdness
fluffy bunny gardens
Chinese school disgorging pupils
bicycles
cars
everywhere noisy
on a hot Malim Nawar morning

A chases M
M chases paper
khalwat goons chase both
slipping
sliding
greased palms
fingers too fat to pull wallets
drop cash

Sun shifts
shade to shade
bananas ripe
papayas ripe
coconuts fall
split
pandan water cools thirst
as I drink
from my old jeep cabin and drive
onehandly
slowly ever on