thirsty scholar, hungry poet

Fuseli's Nightmare

2009-10-18T12:20:00.001-07:00

That final breath catches
in her spider web larynx.
That final scream is snared,
woven into a lace labyrinth.
She is suspended
in a ghastly, gargoyle nightmare.
Scared, her metronome accelerates.
Paralyzed pupils
Stare into a macabre eclipse.
Sprawling shadows awaken,
Crawling up white walls,
Creeping across creaking floorboards.
Adrenaline rushes through manikin limbs
Her lungs burn with muted screams.
The bed sheets bind her down
with the weight of a million fears,
left at the mercy of the incubus.
A shadow noose clasps her neck
As she gasps for breath.
And in a flash she awakens
Her skeleton aching.
The shadows retreat into a dark corner
Lying in wait.

Remorse of the Souse

2009-10-18T12:19:00.001-07:00

Crashed! Passed out on ochre stained tiles
With cheeks on porcelain seats
Whilst body heat seeps from smiles.
From tall we fall and regress into foetal stains
Veiled in shame.
The same souls glide outside
Flush! The u-bend swallows my pride.
Shudder in cold piss puddles, bewildered, befuddled
With single ply sheets laid out mattress like
The cubicle thuds, blood smeared lullabies
Paralysed fingertips, paralysed minds.
Paralysed smiles, let me sleep for a while
There is no admission to my cubicle domicile.

The underground of hysteria

2009-10-18T11:50:00.001-07:00

Chaos reigns supreme
in the underground of hysteria

We scream and cry
And pump our fists in ecstasy.
We groan and moan
And writhe together.
We sweat and chew
And drown in delirium.

Chaos reigns supreme
in the underground of hysteria

The Exodus

2009-10-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Stomach sinks,
The train sighs, lurching to a halt
Platform crowds swell and pulse.
Get caught in a rook, rucksack on back,
Vying for the last remaining seat.
The carriage reeks of piss and antiseptic.

The train clears it’s throat, grunts
And jumps, shunts into life.

Anonymous landscapes rush by in a smudge.
Canals, warehouse and chimneys bleed into scenes of sunbleached grass and cattle.

The reek of manure seeps in through the doors.

Pass train boneyard, the breathy horn blasts,
The air gasps as a city bound train speeds past.

In the distance a freight train rolls by and by and by...

And I forge my way back.
Back to the slagheaps,
Back to mundanity.
Back to the shipyards,
Back to insanity.

The Serpent, Mekong

2009-10-18T11:46:00.001-07:00

She slithers from countless rivers

giving of life and death masterly,

A mighty serpentine liquid tapestry.

She carries us vessels as we roam,

foam trailing our aberrant voyage.

Our boat’s bow crashes through wake,

which leaps, clinging to the air like midsummer sleet.

Breathless, no one speaks.

En masse we ponder, our virgin eyes wander,

tracing images of thatched bamboo villages

where diligent villagers labour.

We inhale and savour the moment.

She takes us through cryptic waterfalls, fountains

and vast smoke topped mountains

that leer over us immense

from dense fertile canopies of lilac and green.

We helter skelter her vascular curves,

swerving flocks of emerging rocks,

bulbous, like the heads of bathing hippopotamus.

Watch.

The jungle flotsam dances, chancing currents

Before getting swallowed into her muddy surges

emerging breathless from the merkiness,

surplus to her ferocious thirst.

The humble coffee grind verges collapse as we pass

and tumble into the percolating mocha waters.

Camouflaged spies peer as us queer passersby,

with our peculiar features and our alien eyes.

Rising on the horizon

we see hives of corrugated iron shacks

and primitive huts,

sat at the foot of mother nature’s bust.

On approach our engine splutters and cuts,

the rudder adjusts.

And we twist and drift, with a knock,

into the embrace of her floating bamboo dock.

We have arrived.

A Neon Tapestry

2009-10-18T11:45:00.001-07:00

Drawn in by dancing Palace sprites,

That buzz with delight by starless night.

They survey a myriad of bumbling drunks

Who down their ale and stumble from clubs.

They sway, crisscrossing the rivers of spray

That slither beneath Mancunian Way.

They sail beneath bold rattling tracks,

the freight nymph dances with a flash

sprinting the vine of cable thread

that dissects the night sky overhead.

Gluts of ciggie butts lie in the gutters,

Drunkards splutter on Topshop’s shutter.

Hairy fairies getting quite contrary

Knocking back shots, the surly get lairy.

Chants and screams vociferously erupt

And ricochet through red brick viaducts.

Stagger through blaggers veiled in thicket,

“Ay ar mate, dya need a ticket?”

No response, bus coughs n takes its leave

As drunks heave and weave into the urban eve.

epilogue

2009-09-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

so, clearly my desire to maintain an adequate writing dilligence whilst i was travelling failed in an epic way...however, i CAN assure you that i had an incredible time on my southeast asian journey and the only reason that i didn't maintain my blog was because i was too busy enjoying my life in a most profound way...since i have spent the last two weeks recounting my journey to everyone that i have met (whether they've wanted to hear it or not), i do not have the energy to write everything that i experienced...i will however list a number of my highlights of the last two months...

* the pad thai from the street vendours of bangkok (some of my favourite food of all time)...despite the rest of bangkok being an absoloute waste infested shithole
* leaving bangkok!
* playing with the orphaned street kids of siem reap, cambodia at 4am...intense!
* learning about the devastation of pol pot's khmer rouge and visiting a school turned concentration camp, s21...
* day long bike trek through the mountains of da lat, vietnam...tried some nerve tingling rice wine, stright from the distillery...
* island hopping in nha trang, vietnam...the floating bar and impromtu concert by myself, liam, rich and max was a particular highlight!
* tubing!!!
* absorbing the laid back atmosphere of luang prabang, laos...
* 2 day jungle trek through the mountains of chiang mai, thailand...stayed with a local tribe, dived in waterfalls, white water rafted and rode elephants through the dense forest vegetation!!
* koh samet - just chilled on the beach for a few days...finally!!!
* taking a (shoddy, rust bucket of a...) 4x4 through the mountains of bali...relaxed in volcanic hot pools, sipped enzyme shakes in the quaint cafes of ubud and partied in kutu!! what more could i ask for?
* the people i met!!

well, that's about it!! if you wanna know anymore, then feel free to...get out there and experience it for yourself firsthand!!! you won't regret it...

2009-07-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

well, this is the first of what will hopefully be many (depending on my diligence, which has so far been waning) travel blogs.

we arrived in singapore about 4/5 days ago (time has kinda become skewed along the way). we've been staying with carlene and adam (liam's sister and her boyfriend) and they have been treating us incredibly well. carlene has shown us how to handle the local hawker centers (something that i now believe i have become something of an expert on) and adam has taken us to a local mixed martial arts class and on a four hour bike trek through the singaporean forests (saw some monkeys swinging around us!) (both of which started at 6am!!). then we went down to the local park on saturday (so carlene could test out her new bike) and hired out some skates (except for liam who opted for the more conservative bike option). we've also eaten in some incredible restaurants, well out of the usual backpacker budget!

liam and i have spent a lot of time exploring the city. we've been to a number of hindu and buddhist temples, explored chinatown, checked out the business district and spent S$23 (about 11 quid!!) on 2 beers down in the exclusively tourist "boat quay", on the southern bank of the singapore river!!! the highlight of the last few days has probably been watching liam try to eat the chicken feet that he accidentally ordered!!!

we've just booked our tickets to fly out to bangkok (the flight leaves in about 10 hours) and whilst i'm gutted to be leaving i can't wait to see somewhere new, and perhaps hit up a ping pong show :-/

well, that's all for now...take it easy!

thirsty scholars

2009-06-03T09:37:00.001-07:00

we, harbourers of wild aspirations,
drunk in subterranean drinking dens.
red raw throat cries of illumination
by golden light of flickering candles
in wine bottles, wax dripping onto tables,
ice crackles and melts into warm whiskey.
we, sots of a wasted generation
viewing the earth through pint glass monocle.
high definition dreams spewing from mouths
with our eyes red as the surrounding brick.
our thirsts satiated with cheap liquor,
our knee jarred swaggers track paths to nowhere,
our anaesthetized minds float, swirl skyward,
our words smash sink in stormy purple seas.

the sweet smell of resentment

2009-06-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

gothic images plague sick mind,
bloodshot eyes devoid of shine.
fairytales left far behind,
truth and myth become entwined.

pussy sores, stained fingertips,
skeletal frame, blistered lips.
vulgar states can't be suppressed,
self destruction, self detest.

somber thoughts of piety
in moments of sobriety.
drown in drink, in drugs immersed,
shelter from this universe.

the curtain falls, the final scene
nothing left but tales and dreams,
a wasted youth, debauched, obscene.
say farewell to the libertine.