The Kingdom of Fruit and Flowers (ePub)

The Kingdom of Fruit and Flowers is vivid, vibrant poetry of chaos, chaotic love, the lushest of vegetation and heat. We traverse that world as Duras did, falling into drama like Bukowski.

The journey unearths Saigon, the mess of it, the mothers with babies, the thieves, the rats. Catch glimpses of the lush and beguiling vistas of Laos, where gold flecks litter the banks of rivers and butterflies sip the Mekong. The South Pacific, where everything seems young and if you were lucky enough you can catch glimpses of the Kingdom.

...

the simple pleasure
of just being with you
lounging in the course sand
and the dark river
your soft skin
collecting the grains
your soft skin
imbued
the world turning
stretching our shadows
with the evenings getting cold
when the sun leaves
even in the summer
the salt dried in our sweat
chills to the wind
the birds of prey
go to nest
and the salmon
find deeper waters

...

the girl

I would always crawl
to her place
half dead
cold
beaten down, infected
by humanity
or more accurately the lack of if
I would get there
cold, half dead
and crawl into her bed
her warmth
and middle of the road flesh
and she would take me in
every time
maybe because I was beautiful, a writer
half dead
but with stars in my eyes
when everyone else
were never born with them
or traded them in for mirages
or had them stolen
the only thing she stipulated
that I take my clothes off
take off the stench of the street
the weariness
the lost promises
and be there in the flesh
cold
and half dead.

...

All prayers bring me
closer and further away from you
All songs undone
on these streets we walked on
The scientists stared at the stars
and talked of changes in the sun

They teach us how to swim
how to count
how to make money
and tend gardens
Not to love
and be loved

...