Ten Poems about East Asia & Kitsch Nebula Ampersands And Read online



  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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