Tropical Haikus

One day I decided to explore the pictures in my memory, pictures of growing up in Southeast Asia. Haiku seemed like a nice form to use for them.












The writer begins
with the watcher in a world
not of their making

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Searing sun so pale
everything else is colour
in defiant joy

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Emerald jungle
water just sits on the air
I hear my breathing

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Falling drumming rain
a wall of liquid rhythms
monsoon horizon

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Baby jellyfish
my hands stinging in wet sand
Indian Ocean

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Layered horizons
in river and bay and sea
wavering with heat

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Sweet and surprising
hidden beneath thick spiked skin
pearly rambutan

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Growing through the fence
iridescent in moonlight
white spider lily

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Sustenance and peace
patterned reflection of light
rice paddies sunrise

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Wind caressing palms
palms caressing sky and sand
sea caressing shore

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Deep end of the pool
chlorine blue this solitude
mermaid and captive

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Moonlight makes shadows
so moonbeams can tell stories
through open windows

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Teasing scorpions
long sticks and quickly curled tails
jump and run laughing

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There were tigers then
the jungle reached for the roads.
Tiger-eating Man!

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Muezzin's dawn prayer
each brand new day takes a breath
before it begins

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Joss sticks' smoke curling
musky pungent aroma
rises in morning

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Stray dogs and children
in spiced and dusty alleys
forbidden to me

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Butter in silver
yellow frozen curls served by
dark sweating waiters

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On the Tuan's lawn
hypnotic circular dance
of gardener's blade

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Everywhere was wild
they told me not to go there
there I had to go

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Rubber trees in rows
milky white droplets hanging
solid from their spouts

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Little boy lama
shaved shy smile in saffron robes
beads and wooden bowl

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Cigarette smoke thick
laughter slamming mah-jong tiles
milky lucky jade

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Orange papayas
clustered black pearl slimy seeds
my face in heaven

*******

Water buffalos
small naked brown boys swimming
while my skin just burns

*******

Photo by Gregory Colbert