Non-Lineal Observation; Phnom Penh

S21 (12:50PM)

crimson-splattered walls

strained notes of the dead

the wire, the heat of the wire

301,52, 88. cell. cell. cell.

"it's the end of the road, the end of justice"

here they lay now

duality in the photographs

gelatin-coated mourning

black blood. black eyes,

the ghost of a barbed-wire snare

it's veiny fingers, silent gait

each eye stares back

a schoolyard

eighteen-month survival plea.

(s21 from the hotel rooftop-

laminated windows,

now-timid blood stains,

fear-drenched courtyard,

rubble. ancestral cries.

9pm sets in)

***

TUOL TOM PONG, POST-DREAMING (midday)

a sweet aroma-

bitter ginger

trepidant elevator clangs

a polluted canal-

rest here

simple place I created

a subtle cheer-

the stadium

in dreams, sand fills the bed

a dining room-

melancholy vacancy

eat rice for brekky

a chandelier-

match lit

the gold melts

slumbering.

***

FROM THE ROOFTOP

irregularity in the days;

workshop, dip-dye mango, durian ice-cream

nights briefly cyclical;

umber roof-top, Roman candle, mosquito

peach, dripping daintily

city skyline

lights, hazily in view

adjust the viewfinder, an old camera

the final market cart parked

gathered at tables, "cards at Number 72"

the smell of a canal

laundromat, just closed

four corner shops a block;

cracks worn so deeply in each woman's face

and yet, atop the roof we sit

pale skin, a floral dress, skateboards, a notebook

bumbling middle class

anglo-cised

fickle on their feet

so much to know, to know

a faut line- a sacred mountain