About the trip

Welcome to the Cambodia blog. I'm travelling in the country for 10 days as a guest of the Tearfund partner 'Cambodia Hope Organisation' in Poi Pet. Our party of 6 includes Revd Jono Pierce, rector of St Finnian's and representative of the Bishops' Appeal Fund. We're visiting a number of projects and when connections allow, I'm posting my thoughts and reactions right here. I'm tweeting too at http://twitter.com/bishopharold

Thursday 18 November 2010

A muse is among us

We have a poet on our team: Peter Barrett, and I thought you might enjoy his reflections on the few hours we had in Bangkok. Over to Peter:

Thanks, Harold.  It's been quite an experience so far - and we're only on our second day here! Here's a poem I pulled together after our first night in Bangkok.

Senseless in Bangkok

I see:
blind people singing
banquets by the roadside
Bladerunner highways in the sky
forests of tangled phone wires
palm readers in doorways
smiling children on top of gleaming motorbikes

I feel:
the stickiness of sweat
the swarm of crowds
the forces of neon commercialism

I taste:
spices like fireworks on my tongue
waterfalls of lime
super-sweet roti

I smell:
stagnant sewers
personal success (as a yellow ferrari glides by)
the industrialised stench of sex (as every minute someone pushes pictures of naked women into my face)

I hear:
the crackle of deal-making
the flutter of fresh currency
God speaking in air conditioned hostel rooms
And in the hospitality of crisp white sheets.

1 comment:

  1. I'll follow this with interest.
    Please say 'Hi' to Billie A for me!

    Jez/Newquay

    ReplyDelete