Man carries heavy weight scale
Down dusty street
Past women hacking meat
Grilling fish
Hungry children
Slurp noodles
In a motorcycle culture
Silent expectations beep impatient horns
Grasshopper says hello
An open hand holds everything
The blind man and his daughter.
He wore a felt hat. He gripped a wooden staff. His face was long and sallow.
The girl was 11. Wearing cotton, her face was solemn, shocked.
Both wore plastic flip-flops.
She held his hand.
They came to an intersection. Small buses, bikes, lost fat Europeans, orange robed wandering monks, silver vans. Women carrying bamboo baskets spilling oranges negotiated pavement.
The girl led the man across the street.
Their pace steady, yet hesitant.
She was his eyes. He trusted her implicitly.
A stranger drawing in his notebook watched them.
He pulled a 20 Kip note from his pocket.
He gestured to the girl, Take it.
She froze.
She spoke quick Lao words to her father.
Questioning, doubt, healthy uncertainty in her eyes.
The stranger gestured the 20.
She remained still.
He got up and slowly approached her. His hand extended the money.
His hand said, take it.
Her small hand emerged with caution. Her small fingers accepted the gift.
She smiled placing her hands together.
Her fingertips touched her chin meaning, Thank you.
She whispered to her father, it's 20.
His blind eyes darted back and forth.
He mumbled, Thank you, joining his hands.
His wooden staff hung in the air like a pendulum.
She led him away.
They disappeared.
Phonsavan, Laos
Kandinsky
Red, blue, yellow
Colors engage senses
Dust coffee rice
Home zone bamboo ice
Vocal chords
Language cultures
Eye-heart-hand shadow puppets
Music cleans ears
A professional stranger shows up
Among whisper smiles
Old man with bamboo staff coughs
Walks as voices decipher meaning’s intention
Plainclothes officer cleans glasses
With what they don’t know or understand
White paper
A girl loving geography
Lights four incense sticks with gratitude
Prays for good luck health and wealth
Dance now think later
Zen meditation
Line shading color
Burma, Laos, Cambodia - verbal and visual stories, imagination,
love, play, dreams, intuition, instinct, preparation,
luck and skill throw a party
Everyone is invited to the play
Zen garden magic
Heart sutra
Swimming exercise movement breath
Tai-chi below blue surface
Float on back
upside down clouds
drink sky vision
calm water feels soft
yellow green leaves float
bird song wings light
hello blue sky
black butterflies
mating moths
blue water reflects spirit energies
pure clean radiant
Mandalay, Burma
After she stopped crying
The lonely Chinese woman
Killed herself
Being the survivor/victim
Of the one child genocide policy
Afraid to lose face
Afraid her parents will lose face
Afraid her dead ancestors
Eating in sense lose face
Where is my face said her mask
Eating her face
(or)
Waif on her own walking along Mekong
In a flow state
Bare structure angular momentum
Ballet dancer on point
Permanently poised
Dance energy sway hips
Shift down a gentle rolling
Wu-Wei
Bhaktapur, Nepal
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