Eleven days of silence
Is what she
said
About the Buddhist
monastery
In Tibet
She and her two
companions
Had just come
from
Hair legs and
braided hair
Sleeping on
concrete
Not speaking
even once
Which for her
Must have been
Excruciatingly
painful
She couldn’t
really say
If she got in
touch
With her inner
self
But
The spiders
creeping
Across her pampered
flesh
Fascinated
Her more
Than the bowls
of rice
She shared with
monks
Who failed to dispel
Her web of
illusion
Confident
That she is so
much more
Jaded than the
rest
After traipsing
around the globe
For a few years
now
Her next plan
On her journey
in life
Is to head back
to Singapore
And look for
work as a whore
Well, she
didn’t say it like that
She said she
knew
A wealthy man
there
And could
perhaps
Get a job working
for him
Can’t ever see
herself
Going back to
the states
Because people
there
Are
Too pretentious
The other
American girl
Had long,
golden hair
She talked
about her desire
To join the
Peace Corps
And help
Less
sophisticated people
Get their act
together
When I asked
her
If she really
perceived
This as helpful
She, of course
Felt completely
justified
Interfering in other
cultures
In the name of spreading
American know-how
To those who hate
us
And burn our
flag
But that wasn’t
enough
She had to go
even further
And tell me
about the time
She spent in Yemen
After
backpacking across Europe
And lived
As one of the
local women would
And how
She missed it
And wanted to
go back
I tried to be
patient
But my
politeness wore out
And so
I turned my
attention
To the third
one instead
Red hair so
thick
You could see
it bursting out
From the sides of
her bikini bottom
Like crab legs
So thick and
red
The kind which
came
Halfway down
her forehead
So that it was
difficult to tell
Where her
hairline ended
And her
freckles began
Was from Australia
As I listened
To her stories
of snorkeling in the bay
Watching for a shark
fin
Cutting the
water
As flaming
colored fish swam by
I grew tired or
something
And so
I walked back
To the thatched
hut
And listened
To the rain of
the orient
Against the lull
of waves
Coming to shore
As I drifted
off to sleep
With images of
that girl
I saw at the Hong Kong Airport
Still fresh in
my mind
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