close march

let's close march, elf said to orphan.

yes, agreed orphan, march is still a day to go such a hot furnace of yellow laos skies as farmers burn fields 

o my yes indeed, agreed elf, all this sticky humid trapped hot air mixed with flying black ashes permeates pristine air water and soil

such a beautiful mess, said orphan donning a cotton gauze multi-threaded mask to prevent malaria and dengue

what's a dengue, wondered elf, scrubbing for an open heart surgical operation in hanoi

it's the fluid relaxation of intellectual reasoning as a shaman mask proclaims, confessing to the world 

see this face

i am you

pee wee play

a kid who had no idea
what was going on besides i want
grabbed for the yellow plastic ball
mine mine mine he screamed in Lao demanding

ball kid gripped tight
grimace
pulling away

suddenly 
four armed pee-wee power stranger rangers
with interlocking plastic
red, yellow, green, blue 
guns entered the fiasco 

hand it over or else
we blast you with our supersonic death ray
grabbing kid looked astonished
distracted

ball owner ran away
laughing, you can't BE serious

pin head

Fear sang a middle class song accompanied by a young girl spoon feeding Chinese infants before they were stolen by gangs of coastal traffickers.

A young boy’s value is $3,500 - $5,000. Negotiate. Continuing talking about the price.

Always Be Closing. ABC in kindergarden classless freedom.

The one-child policy created a desperate daily search for heirs.

Losing face meant public humiliation.

Shame.

before a girl swept she wept.

yes. birds whistle foolish sharp twills, humans yap emotional distress, leaves vein, rats, geckos, butterflies echo. ah, a faint sound of a step slap on gravel.

a piano note. broom music on stone.

a crescent moon sex slave on her back massages ink sky is-land floating on blue water, a wake for the living. be a work of art or wear a work of art.

compose tongue bones inside tibetan thangkas, golden threads, grounded semi-precious stones.

mandala. centered. release.

read everything backwards. write right to left to the imagination sitting on a metro subway

sandwich dreaming world dust exposing word tunnels. arabic mystic dervish dances.

spin your wheels. wheel of life. angels dance on a pin head.

give her a sewing machine and she’ll change the world. 

clown money

once upon a time Orphan and Elf enrolled in a kindergarden class. a new project in Laos.

where's the stuff, like toys and games and books, they asked.

our supplies are limited said Budget, the administrator.

this was a new vocabulary word for Orphan and Elf.

what's a budget? it's the control of money.

what's money? it's paper with people's faces.

may we have some paper and pencils, asked Orphan and Elf, WE can draw faces on paper.

here, said Budget handing them sheets of papyrus and graffiti lead them now-here.

be my guest.

thank you very much.

Orphan and Elf designed, illuminated and created paper money with faces of clowns.

great, said Elf, let's exchange these clowns for some stuff like toys, games and books, OK, said Orphan.

they went shopping.

mindfulness

cold clear foggy dawn

shawl shadowed on deserted street

you walk in the glimmer of silence

a fire possess a long partial memory

monks whisper visual blessing

dragonfly