January 2007 8 03 pm
When the evening came along tonight, the warm breeze from the bay
limping through open burning air, kampung house tree trying to purr
the sun, a hard working chap, about to go and put his kit away
I came in to open a container of new potato chips; they were
home made, not in a factory that might be uncaring and remote;
with a screw top sealed with some transparent sticky tape that I
peeled away with the precision of a doctor in a white coat
in a pre operation cleaning that didn’t want a child to cry
Then, whilst the young girl was watching some goggle box hit
on the computer, I extracted one, an oval wafer of golden coin
put it between my awaiting teeth, in firm yet controlled technique, bit
in a way that would mean both sets of teeth could join
The absence of commercial salt was welcome; I thought that nice
in fact, I helped myself to another and another, welcoming each one
like a Malaccan merchant of 1500 with a shipment of rice
before the Portuguese came in anger and a much bigger gun
I bit into another and another and another and another too,
another and another and another and another and another; and you
the reader, if there is one, will realise it must appear
that we enjoy little in the way of night time intellectual excitement here.
