1. |
Nishiki Market
03:10
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At the market
Three sea urchins glisten
Three green tea treats calm the spirit
Just add men in white with loincloths
And gogo boots chant their way by
Everything is sacred here, he explains
through his phone
The baby octopus on a stick
Or rolled inside a crispy ball
The peanut crackers, the sake stall
The Japanese girl who can't speak
Japanese at all
We stop to lean against a wall
To sit and snack on a bench
As our feet grow weary
Our map said five minutes
An hour ago
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2. |
Yoiyama
04:47
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In brown and gold we glide along
Shoes in hand
Under the regal high ceiling
In brown and beige we roll around
On mats and futons
Beside sliding doors and paper shades
The street fills with girls in kimonos
With their candied fruit
Or sticks of fried fish
I am laughing with you so
I step in a puddle from the storm
From the late afternoon
You are all unstoppable
Eager and curious with
Quests and ideas and new things to do
Now in red and gold and blue
Three floats wobble on high
As the flute and cymbals lurch along
On bamboo and the sweat of your brow
With our hats and fans and every camera
You can think of, we follow and end up
Caught up by the river, fish on our minds
Rice on our hands
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3. |
Shimogyo-ku
03:42
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Grey skies in Kyoto
Long walks past dark homes
You twirl your umbrella
Or wave it as a sword
We are all water now
Damp skin and straw hair
On the black and white streets
Or the charred wooden floors
Bikes glide silently by
No dust or dirt trails us
No stray leaf rolls along the road
In the shadow of the temple
Across the gravel square
Four ravens keep watch
After following us from the garden
No flowers or fruit, just fog
And empty lily pads
Under the shadow of the hills
We wait for the later festival
The chimes will sing like crickets
Chasing all the bad spirits
Like a broom on a golden mat
Like the rain on the old house
I lie on the floor
Entangled in the tatami
Squares of light above me
Dissolving slowly
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4. |
Tawangmangu
03:49
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Sirens and crickets and the
Thud of a broom
You lie down beside me
In the hot afternoon
Even with my eyes closed
I fly over the the scene
rice paddies and palm trees
Like an ocean of green
The ravine is on one side
The river runs near
We're silent together
The blue sky is clear
The light through the mountains
Changes shadows and beams
Our Oma's old songs
Sing in everyone's dreams
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5. |
Banyak Tik Tik
04:45
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Banyak tik tik tik
Wax on my hand
All those hippie dresses
When my hair was long
Now the scarves are trailing behind me
Pink and grey and blue and brown
Sarongs pinned to french doors
Or dragged in the sand at the beach
In the same place we do the same things
With your straw brooms and tape
And the mask swinging from your arm
Kicking mini mangos down the road
In the alley with graffiti
The feather in the pool
Lifted out, falls in again
The batik butterfly says hello
And drinks from the water nearby
Silk and satay
Soto and durian
We’re slow in the middle of the day
Es jeruk, is what it took
To stir us awake
As the off key song
Rattles and rides by
Sunday in the Sultan’s daughter’s palace
Breezes by like
The blossoms from the sky
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6. |
Ubud Palace
06:09
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Between the doves and the frangipani
The men walking with gongs by the lotus ponds
Near the turtle and the orchids
And the slick stone path
The soft hot rain and my salty skin
In the gray of the afternoon and
The early dark of night we reach our
hands out and wait for one another
We shuffle up and down between
Scooters and tires
Between cameras and offerings
The monkeys steal the rice and the
leftover drinks while the taxi drivers morph
moustaches gone in a blink
The whole world smells like coconut
And incense
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7. |
Ke'te Kesu'
04:49
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green mangoes along the winding road
buffalo asleep in traffic
we scan the horizon for vistas and craggy rock
past chickens and insects
churches next to mosques
branches fall, hati hati
standing in red, white and yellow
eyes glowing in front of the caves
selfies with the dolls of the dead
or the sun bleached bones beside us
in carved wooden boxes
Mister, over here, call
the smiling girls and skulls
after the rain we're the ones
trapped in a box, behind a rope
zoom lenses finding all our flaws
they whisper it feels like this
as we shift and wiggle
under 29 sacrifical antlers
just kelapa cookies with sips of water
tiny offerings, bring more
bring more often
come again and sing to me
come back and sing to me
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8. |
Tok Tok
04:35
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Tok tok against the rock
River rushing past the rice
The banana flower falls over the edge
As we shuffle on barefeet
With photos on the ceiling
Je me souviens in Java
How deep are our roots
In the red earth or
Under palm trees
Between maple sugar and pines
Or papaya leaves with ginger
Straddling the globe
It is hard to hold fast
And to hang on
As the sun moves swiftly in the sky
Over ancient temples, your temple
My watchful eye, like a butterfly
Carried quickly by the breeze
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9. |
Monkey Forest Road
04:43
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Banana between my teeth and a cup of weak tea
Children run past with flowers in their hair
Marigolds on every stair as we ascend
Garudas keep watch as
the hummingbirds sneak by
You at a desk, ever prolific
Or floating up ahead in the sea of busy people
The chickens swing from her hands
As she carries them through the golden kampong
All crackling and spices now, gone but not forgotten
The cat cries before sunrise, before the roosters
Or the fireflies, timeless as ever
The old trees and I are good friends
Half a century in common as I walk in the rain
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10. |
The Station
04:23
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I went to the station to look for you
but you were gone
the night is biting back and
I don't know how much longer
I can take this cold city glow
the grey and gold chambers
of the city hearts
icicle chambers
I walk from the station and look for you
but you have ended
the battle you had with this town
and it's up to me to try to win it back
I can't stay here looking at it like you did
I won't look at it like you did
cold in the centre, thin at the edges
no, not like you did
something must be done
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11. |
Jetlag in Jogja
03:09
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Startled awake he points to the wall
And the ripples of light
Back to sleep, I say
That’s not sunshine
As the prayers begins
The electric lights shut off
Do you remember now?
In the hot afternoon?
Not a thing, topsy turvy
On the other side of the world
Everything looks like pomegranates
And there are rose petals scattered at night
Girls in veils with downcast eyes
smiling into their bags of tea
Fourteen dishevelled cats
And tables as big as a house
I slip and slide with tinkling teacups
On teak and glass as the lion roars
And saraswati raises her bow
Boys wander aimlessly with lazy brooms
Or dash up trees to rooftops
Or open and close gates and
Forget to knock on doors
He’s seen me in all my glory
Or lackthereof as we move
Silently between becaks and buses
Waiting on street corners
For long moments in the sun
A wave of our fingers and like magic
The traffic stops
Like magic, we hop and shop
With mangos in our hands
And some green oranges
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Jeannette Lambert Montreal, Québec
Living creatively through jazz and intuition guides my life as a jazz singer and composer. As a Dutch-Indonesian immigrant raised in Northern Ontario, free jazz, sound poetry, and dreamwork have contributed to my creative freedom. I live in Montreal, Quebec where I insist everyone around me create as well. ... more
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