piano rumba (half-awake night)

piano rumba in the tropical night

whispering overture of insect bite 

a tropical bird in a rhythm up high 

in a sunset horizon of a quiet goodbye

come to me here, come to me here

rumba, rumba in my half-awake night

by the water edge, one insect jumping high

the fish dance with misting moonlight

one nocturnal bird in whooping cry

rumba rhythm with me in the night 

the oboe breeze in the yellow wheat

the bird, insect, in buzzing fight

painting the plain, the sun ending its beat

rumba rhythm with me in the night 

the cool earth breeze purring alone

the conga, güiro, keeping timber tight

the iron timbre of the quiet trombone

rumba rhythm with me in the night 

the cirrus flute hanging up high

hunting the plough, the hawk, the kite

the melting of the mountain ice coming nigh

rumba rhythm with me in the night 

plat du jour (adapté du poème ‘Cargoes’)

عطبرة

Atbara railway junction, hot morning market

tomato rinse under a weak street tap

with a platter of spring onion, 

brown beans, cucumber,

Nile fish, olive oil with flat bread wrap 

الطائف

Mazda truck with box of dates, oranges from Egypt 

rocky Taif café in the gritty wadi air 

with a warm tin of Pepsi, 

half-chicken from rotisserie

clove-spicing saffron rice, Hejazi workman fare

Kerület IX

Haller Mester csomópont, brutalist apartment block

Keleti yellow tram with ticket punch machine

with a casserole of chicken breast, 

new potato, green courgette

carrot, garlic, turmeric, purple aubergine

Terengganu

walking in the sunrise, a windswept Jalan Pantai

rocking fishing boats on the pungent estuary

with a banana plate of oily rice, 

peanuts, cucumber, 

curry chicken thigh and a cup of Boh tea

Royal Berkshire

high-class Thames by Caversham, of swan, duck, pigeon 

in the warm Alto Lounge of hoi-polloi renown 

with a pot of hot English tea,

a plate of sauté mushroom,

tomato, sausage, fried egg, crispy hash brown