I always seem
to end up here, shuffling
along the river, soul deep
in its waters. I wallow
for a while like an old,
crusty animal, trying
to rid myself
of the usual parasites.
These pests gasp
for air beneath its tides
and thick mud.
A soul must have a place
to go for the caked on grime
of life to be washed off.
It seems a law written
into the DNA of our psyche.
For some, sacramental ritual
once scrubbed them clean
but this has fallen
out of favour, hollowed out
by hierarchical abuse
and an absent God.
Others simply ask
for a voucher.
Nature has always offered
its sacred spaces to mend
troubled souls. Or there
are caves you can carve
into the mind where a still
resides and encloses
a healing peace. Other
excavations hold effigies
who promise the faithful
any number of offerings
to soothe the spirit.
In the end, you just need
a place where you can go,
somewhere within a breath,
or walking distance,
or a mystery only the soul
seems to know.
The old cranes, arthritic with rust,
bathe their long shadows in the river.
Iron sinews that pulled and strained
to lift load after load of scrap
now dangle loosely from redundant arms.
An eerie quiet settles the wharf where
the last ship was pried away by tugs.
My shadow still lingers there,
lengthening in the green water,
reaching out towards an absence
where my ancestors once had
their home. Soon, nothing will remain
but a vacated space without title,
slowly filling with the rubble
dug out of the excavations
from other people's lives.
A big concern during excavations
from granite hillsides is just
keeping limited mishaps near
observed palladium quantities,
reacting swiftly to utility vehicles
wanting X-rays yields zeroed.
Reflecting on Stonehenge
Ancient mysteries
Neolithic man left behind
Their enlightened thought suggests
heaven and earth are twin powers
harnessed through astronomy
Standing stones silent witness.
Sunrise, sunset, and solstice
Natural chronometer
heaven's perpetual pulse
Celebrations long since dead
Echoes muted
Excavations ongoing
hypothesis abounding.
Abiding mystery
What drove this undertaking?
How was knowledge obtained?
Science of astronomy
was remote truth for ancients
Removed from Sailsbury Plain
other henges' ~ Question why?
Reflect
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in the screen door
a small hole
corruption forms its disorderly queue
black fuzzy questions marks
walk on segmented legs
spindly limbs pry into disrepair
lay slick eggs in dabs of dirt and dross
incursions creep unnoticed
until what was clean is mixed
with the dead and decaying
some rot easily scoured
yet as time swings its metronome
small bodies are secretly grown
from the ceiling
darkly smudged miniscule things
hang
dangle
and spew
nothing gross yet to the eye
a festering unseen
miniscule excavations
where
grubby nests
will soon wiggle forth
and teem.
The 1960's were pretty freaky
The British invasion pretty sneaky
Old Guard politics pretty creaky
(America's favorite dessert a Twinkie)
Folk singers and protest songs pretty cheeky
~ Bob Dylan's voice gravelly and pretty squeaky
Barry Goldwater's horn-rimmed specs plenty geeky
Boston Celtics' championship run plenty streaky
(Kids 'of all ages' favorite toy a Slinky)
Woodstock Music Festival's skies plenty leaky
Jimmy Hendrix' Star-Spangled Banner provocatively neat-key
~ Not to mention the paleoanthropological excavations and monkeyshines
of Louis and Mary Leakey!
Footprints in sand, indelible till the tide comes in,
reliable impressions, etched, embedded, enveloped
to form an album of traces:
crab hole excavations,
scurries of hurrying birds,
seaweed twirls wind-driven in curls,
tiny sand flea hop-craters,
crab claw side-step shuffles,
drift-wood scuffs and scuppers
remnants of tidal riffles and ruffles,
snap-shots of scrapes, stomps, scats and scars.
Footprints like graffiti deface the awe of seascape shore
with a mushyheaded mishmash of double-exposed impressions.
Ann-Marie
Tombs for teeth stuck out
On stocks overhanging
A trembling lower lip the
Impression of permanent snivel
Impeding would-be normal childish speech
Should such a thing ever have been desired
Passionately pleading
Dark brown eyes - doe I think they’d say
Both avoiding the straight ahead
Poised always
Glistening ready to tear saying more
Than dental excavations ever could
The bowl cut - affectionately known
A burden only the wearer owns
Tatty coat delicately worn
Cloak of poverty faded brown check
Perfectly in keeping
With grimy socks
On slim grey legs
Offering protection no mean feat
Cornering the cornered
We hoped they would retreat but
The boys used their hands superior
Body strength feet
In urgent proliferation to reach
The tenderest of all to strike her pure cheek
Daily battles we fought
Crushing defeats all yours to bear
Carried alone with the scars clinging
Even in the air
At home with the stigma and cruelty
That delivered you there
Disappearance
Like delicate snow that melts
in the midst of our breathe
Can you feel the heat of what we say
taste sexual precipitation
When our tongues drag across
sensuous excavations
delivering a pause
where we examine protrusions
Practicing a more deliberate
artifact extraction.
A woman's golden place.
Let me taste your snow,
as you melt away, I'll claim your
disappearance,
making ecstasy reappear
two or three glimpses at first
then you visualize that final surprise
Capturing tiny bits of rain drops
that tickle my tongue.
Everytime I speak I want to feel
your wet interruptions
In midst of my pardoned eruptions
from this lust entwined love affair.
We taste rain
even when
skies are clear.
Radio blasting
Loud music screams;
Intruding words
~~~~~~~~~
Mental movie
Visualisation techniques;
Attract good stuff
~~~~~~~~~
Cellphone outlet
Mobile accessories;
Too much distractions
~~~~~~~~~
Secular world view
Greedy appetites ground;
Competition chokes
~~~~~~~~~
Lunch banquet
Feast for the senses;
Frugality absent
~~~~~~~~~
Temple visit
Ancestors await;
Family reunion
~~~~~~~~~
Church Sunday service
Sermon on the Mount;
Wise Jesus echoes
~~~~~~~~~
Late night rendezvous
Lakeside stroll;
Ghosts figures flirt
~~~~~~~~~
Downtown trip
Shopping excavations;
Designer goods in tow
~~~~~~~~~
Here we sit
Two old lovers;
Tea and chocolate cake
~~~~~~~~~
Book of wisdom
Wise message tutors;
Private conversations
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
11 June 2015
Singapore
Holiday season
Shopping spree;
Downtown bazaar
~~~~~~~~~
Easy atmosphere
All sorts of stuff;
Bargains galore
~~~~~~~~~
Table stalls cluster
Mini display items;
Souvenir trinkets
~~~~~~~~~
Crowded commotion
Zesty curiosity;
Sellers and buyers
~~~~~~~~~
Tucked in a corner
Custom-made brooches;
Artistic flair revealed
~~~~~~~~~
Flea market bazaar
Noisy excavations;
Happy discoveries
~~~~~~~~~
Vendors preside
Over special goods;
Come buy, come buy
~~~~~~~~~
Business pulse shows
Some transacting briskly;
Others just waiting
~~~~~~~~~
Weekend bazaar
Cash and carry ventures;
Curious smiles escalate
~~~~~~~~~
Buzz of discovery
Pretty and cute things;
Happy exchange
~~~~~~~~~
Voices float and fill
Seekers finding wares;
Easy breezy bargains
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
29 November 2014
Singapore
Street alley stalls
Tourist bazaar fare;
Souvenirs to go
~~~~~~~~~
Seasonal fruit
A yearly dessert;
Duku escapade
~~~~~~~~~
Old colonial shophouse
Freehold property;
Modern facelift
~~~~~~~~~
Business cycles dash
Yesterday's bubble tea;
Today's cafe glitz
~~~~~~~~~
Shopping arcade
Organized pandemonium;
Electronic extravaganza
~~~~~~~~~
Bread and toast
Shopping mall happenings;
Cafe pondering
~~~~~~~~~
Old haunts call
Flavours and tints;
Urban oasis
~~~~~~~~~
Congested roads
Peak hour traffic;
Air-con consolation
~~~~~~~~~
Morning kungu-fu dancers
Graceful as swans;
Dreamtime exhibits
~~~~~~~~~
Busy feet carve
Grassy footpath;
Shortcut route across
~~~~~~~~~
Urban renewal
Unstoppable excavations;
Traffic clutter shows
~~~~~~~~~
October heat wave
Haze for added flavour;
Smoky suffocation
~~~~~~~~~
River boat ride
Clarke Quay encounter;
Delighted tourists
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
27 October 2014
Singapore
Bus stop sensations
Where's the bus?
Tardy connection
~~~~~~~~~
Old contact hearsay
Not much to say;
Silent confrontation
~~~~~~~~~
Frangipani sunrise
Pink, yellow, white --
Magical moments
~~~~~~~~~
Smoky stray wind
Grim echoes;
Stale air descends
~~~~~~~~~
Shoppes in decline
Ancient wares loiter;
No takers
~~~~~~~~~
Evening settles
Noisy commotions fade;
Mahjong excavations!
~~~~~~~~~
By this old quay
Modern face lifts greet;
New watering hole
~~~~~~~~~
New dreams stacked
On old faded sites;
Cool revolution
~~~~~~~~~
Play school toddlers
Exchange play things;
Rude awakenings
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
17 October 2014
Singapore
Late night visions
Blur excavations;
Past sleeping hours
~~~~~~~~~
Words fail
Passage purged;
Discarded poem
~~~~~~~~~
Wander here
Fence-sitting neighbour;
Loiter with desolation
~~~~~~~~~
Feasting over
Festival ended;
Yet people dance around
~~~~~~~~~
Cite a fine say
Read a good book;
Self-discovery awaits
~~~~~~~~~
Curious scent
Perfume mists;
Fragrance in the air
~~~~~~~~~
By this river
Goods and sure trade;
Tourists take boat rides
~~~~~~~~~
Late night drama
TV movie moments;
World snores away
~~~~~~~~~
Food diet plan
Weight loss program;
Add two kilos
~~~~~~~~~
Strong sake brew
Alcohol inspires poem;
Unfinished business
~~~~~~~~~
Boy of three
Says: Hello uncle!
Smiles fling approval
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
08 August 2014
Singapore
Traveled
by Odin Roark
Once traveled
looking back is a
smoke-filled window.
Once traveled
the smoky windows rattle their endless resentment
at the windy changes.
But...The changes
rattles
smoky windows
oh, how sweet their receding motion.
oh, how sweet to breathe the air of the uphill movement
of struggling roots
of rustling branches
of open spaces crying to be filled
with visions
with excavations of the mind
with tempestuous truth
with directions into endless detours
with paths...trails...roads...
roads to be once again...
Traveled
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