I don’t like the monkeys.
They are never nice, even when I smile at them.
Little fearsome creatures, who bare their sharp teeth
And make as to dart after you
Scaring to the very core.
I walk the wide road at the botanic gardens
Spilt into two, my mind and I.
A large Malay family stands just inside the entrance
The children and women clutching ice-creams
Screaming as the monkeys gang-up around them
Beady eyes shiny with determination.
Crisp brown cone, creamy icy strawberry dribbling
Artificially coloured, flavoured
A sprinkle of roasted nuts on top
Taunting the monkeys
But of course you stupid lady.
The road begins to gradually incline
You don’t have to walk this hill
You don’t have to walk at all, you already swam this afternoon
I want to, I want to
No, you don’t, you’re just here because you don’t want to deal with other people
You’re becoming a loner, you hear me?
A Loner.
Loner loner loner. My mind chants, mockingly.
I fight back, an argument within me, with me.
Leave me alone, I have my period, I won’t let you mess with me.
I adore this road, all narrow, shady
Lazily wending up the hill, escorted by a hundred ancient trees
I reach the top, on my left a rolling carpet of grass
Take the grass Aja, take it down and we can go home
As soon as my feet leave the tarred road I feel different
Things become different.
I dart through the trees,
Envision myself lying down on my back and rolling downhill
I peek at the signs, (genus, species, whatever), mosey on cliff-side
To peer at the trickling freshwater stream below
Okay, you don’t want to go home?
Today will be different then, today you will go down all the
paths you’ve never been before
Fine by me.
Down I go
Damp green moss furs the rough hewn stone path
Crackly brown leaves littering the earth
Bigger than my very head
A picnic! A picnic! Bring Cheryl, bring Brendon
We can have dainty sandwiches and orange iced-tea
Pineapple tarts and chocolate hearts
Delicate green tendrils, creepers winding their way up the railing
Suddenly I am going, up, up again.
Back on asphalt
The air is all the purest scents of nature
Concentrated, dense
Sucked into my very pores
I seem to get more out of each breath.
My mind is running away with me,
I let it.
I smile at everyone I pass
Why do they not smile back?
Do you suppose they’ve smiled, and no one smiled back for so long
That they no longer bother?
I don’t know, I tell myself, why do you ask so many questions?
The monkeys are different today, look,
Swinging from the trees, the common brown macaques are no longer
In their place, burnished black ones, langurs
Looking out through white peep holes, long tails curling to clutch the next branch
Look, eye-bags like yours, except white!
I turn off the road again
This time the path is musky, hard-packed red-earth
Towering trees shyly touch overhead, blocking out the waning light
We reach the lily ponds
Another picnic spot, me alone,
Silence. Save the soft gurgling water
No, you can’t bring the children here, there is no grass
Where will they sit?
Benches don’t make a picnic, Aja.
Back to the main road we go
Swing your arms, swing your arms
Down another rocky path
Becareful Aja, mossy makes slippery
Why is there no one down these paths?
Do they not appreciate the simplistic beauty of Mother Nature?
Abandoned
Thick, tunnel-like stone archways, barely 4 feet high
Dry twigs scattering the ground
Crackling, crunching, beneath my stamping feet
Dix, onze, douze, what is the word for thirteen?
I don’t know I can’t remember
My mind speaks random French to me
Soixante. Aja, J'ai si faim, je suis tres fatigue.
We come up from the cool, glassy pools by the riverside
Into the clearing, the grassy knolls stretch ahead
Like the Sound of Music hor?
Gentle, undulating, hillocks
A picnic here!
Don’t be silly, can you imagine how hot it will be in the afternoon?
A hundred year old tree, branches heavy, lush with leaves
Almost touching the ground
There, that’s where!
Too low that tree. Go by the river, with the stone arch
Enough light, yet shaded from the scorch of the sun
The siblings will love it..
My mind veers off again
I twirl around the frangipani
Intoxicating scents inundating me
Hurtling through the tallest of the trees
Skipping over spindly roots
The sole of my right shoe flaps
flap flap flap, doesn't that bother you?
The heel is falling off.
Do you know what we’re going to do when we get home?
We’ll make a salad, a big huge salad
With roasted chicken and ham
Lettuce, juicy sliver of onion, rocket, plump tomatoes, sweet corn
Shiny black olives, crumbly, bitey cheddar and alfalfa, egg salad
We’ll eat it parked in front of the TV.
That couple, I saw them on the other path
We pass again. Again, no smile
Oh Aja give it up why don’t you?
Chilly suddenly,
the very moment my eyes touch the velvety grey sky
Swollen surly droplets pelt my cheeks
WhooooHooo rain, we love rain!Let's play!
We take another path, halfway I want to step off it, change directions
No, you must keep on the path till the very end
Only then veer off, or something bad will happen
You’ve watch too much Amelie, I think,
yet I stay on the path.
Suddenly John Leguizamo’s Toulouse Lautrec is in my head
“ Sparkringgg diamondddddd” he whispers
God, you are the most random person that I know
I am you silly.
We are happier in the rain
Hopping jauntily down the road
Arms waving, pendulum-like, stretching
Oblivious to stares
They didn’t smile back at you, so who cares what they think?
But now when I smile, they smile back,
maybe they don’t want to offend the mad.
The rain gives to a silvery veil, minute droplets
Mist like, fanning through the trees
Do you suppose she’s right about men being afraid to approach you?
But I don't think you should change or settle you know?If they don't make the effort ..
Now is not a good time to think about it, change the subject please
Candy-apples, I want a candy-apple!
As suddenly as it started, the rain stops.
You know, I do think that dusk is one of the best times of the day..
when the sky is that bruised aubergine, you can barely see the outline of the clouds?
It seems like the world is heaving a great big sigh in those
few moments before the fall of night..
What about sunset? sunrise?
Oh, I just don’t know..
We are walking towards the entrance now
Passing pergolas, blossoming with magenta flowers
Scented arbours, delicate ivory flowers shielding
cracked wooden benches
The crowd has thinned
Can we go home now?
Yes we’re going home
Okay, you should really write when we go home.
Don’t play with Cornelius, he won’t let you write
Hey, look, pomelos, kiwi, nangka, all together!
Remember?we were just talking about it last night
Yes, yes.
We get to the car.
Me and me time is over
But I wonder if other people let their minds run free like this
Touching surfaces, dipping toes into a myriad of random thoughts
The windows are down
The wind parts my hair in a hundred different directions
I feel better.
They are never nice, even when I smile at them.
Little fearsome creatures, who bare their sharp teeth
And make as to dart after you
Scaring to the very core.
I walk the wide road at the botanic gardens
Spilt into two, my mind and I.
A large Malay family stands just inside the entrance
The children and women clutching ice-creams
Screaming as the monkeys gang-up around them
Beady eyes shiny with determination.
Crisp brown cone, creamy icy strawberry dribbling
Artificially coloured, flavoured
A sprinkle of roasted nuts on top
Taunting the monkeys
But of course you stupid lady.
The road begins to gradually incline
You don’t have to walk this hill
You don’t have to walk at all, you already swam this afternoon
I want to, I want to
No, you don’t, you’re just here because you don’t want to deal with other people
You’re becoming a loner, you hear me?
A Loner.
Loner loner loner. My mind chants, mockingly.
I fight back, an argument within me, with me.
Leave me alone, I have my period, I won’t let you mess with me.
I adore this road, all narrow, shady
Lazily wending up the hill, escorted by a hundred ancient trees
I reach the top, on my left a rolling carpet of grass
Take the grass Aja, take it down and we can go home
As soon as my feet leave the tarred road I feel different
Things become different.
I dart through the trees,
Envision myself lying down on my back and rolling downhill
I peek at the signs, (genus, species, whatever), mosey on cliff-side
To peer at the trickling freshwater stream below
Okay, you don’t want to go home?
Today will be different then, today you will go down all the
paths you’ve never been before
Fine by me.
Down I go
Damp green moss furs the rough hewn stone path
Crackly brown leaves littering the earth
Bigger than my very head
A picnic! A picnic! Bring Cheryl, bring Brendon
We can have dainty sandwiches and orange iced-tea
Pineapple tarts and chocolate hearts
Delicate green tendrils, creepers winding their way up the railing
Suddenly I am going, up, up again.
Back on asphalt
The air is all the purest scents of nature
Concentrated, dense
Sucked into my very pores
I seem to get more out of each breath.
My mind is running away with me,
I let it.
I smile at everyone I pass
Why do they not smile back?
Do you suppose they’ve smiled, and no one smiled back for so long
That they no longer bother?
I don’t know, I tell myself, why do you ask so many questions?
The monkeys are different today, look,
Swinging from the trees, the common brown macaques are no longer
In their place, burnished black ones, langurs
Looking out through white peep holes, long tails curling to clutch the next branch
Look, eye-bags like yours, except white!
I turn off the road again
This time the path is musky, hard-packed red-earth
Towering trees shyly touch overhead, blocking out the waning light
We reach the lily ponds
Another picnic spot, me alone,
Silence. Save the soft gurgling water
No, you can’t bring the children here, there is no grass
Where will they sit?
Benches don’t make a picnic, Aja.
Back to the main road we go
Swing your arms, swing your arms
Down another rocky path
Becareful Aja, mossy makes slippery
Why is there no one down these paths?
Do they not appreciate the simplistic beauty of Mother Nature?
Abandoned
Thick, tunnel-like stone archways, barely 4 feet high
Dry twigs scattering the ground
Crackling, crunching, beneath my stamping feet
Dix, onze, douze, what is the word for thirteen?
I don’t know I can’t remember
My mind speaks random French to me
Soixante. Aja, J'ai si faim, je suis tres fatigue.
We come up from the cool, glassy pools by the riverside
Into the clearing, the grassy knolls stretch ahead
Like the Sound of Music hor?
Gentle, undulating, hillocks
A picnic here!
Don’t be silly, can you imagine how hot it will be in the afternoon?
A hundred year old tree, branches heavy, lush with leaves
Almost touching the ground
There, that’s where!
Too low that tree. Go by the river, with the stone arch
Enough light, yet shaded from the scorch of the sun
The siblings will love it..
My mind veers off again
I twirl around the frangipani
Intoxicating scents inundating me
Hurtling through the tallest of the trees
Skipping over spindly roots
The sole of my right shoe flaps
flap flap flap, doesn't that bother you?
The heel is falling off.
Do you know what we’re going to do when we get home?
We’ll make a salad, a big huge salad
With roasted chicken and ham
Lettuce, juicy sliver of onion, rocket, plump tomatoes, sweet corn
Shiny black olives, crumbly, bitey cheddar and alfalfa, egg salad
We’ll eat it parked in front of the TV.
That couple, I saw them on the other path
We pass again. Again, no smile
Oh Aja give it up why don’t you?
Chilly suddenly,
the very moment my eyes touch the velvety grey sky
Swollen surly droplets pelt my cheeks
WhooooHooo rain, we love rain!Let's play!
We take another path, halfway I want to step off it, change directions
No, you must keep on the path till the very end
Only then veer off, or something bad will happen
You’ve watch too much Amelie, I think,
yet I stay on the path.
Suddenly John Leguizamo’s Toulouse Lautrec is in my head
“ Sparkringgg diamondddddd” he whispers
God, you are the most random person that I know
I am you silly.
We are happier in the rain
Hopping jauntily down the road
Arms waving, pendulum-like, stretching
Oblivious to stares
They didn’t smile back at you, so who cares what they think?
But now when I smile, they smile back,
maybe they don’t want to offend the mad.
The rain gives to a silvery veil, minute droplets
Mist like, fanning through the trees
Do you suppose she’s right about men being afraid to approach you?
But I don't think you should change or settle you know?If they don't make the effort ..
Now is not a good time to think about it, change the subject please
Candy-apples, I want a candy-apple!
As suddenly as it started, the rain stops.
You know, I do think that dusk is one of the best times of the day..
when the sky is that bruised aubergine, you can barely see the outline of the clouds?
It seems like the world is heaving a great big sigh in those
few moments before the fall of night..
What about sunset? sunrise?
Oh, I just don’t know..
We are walking towards the entrance now
Passing pergolas, blossoming with magenta flowers
Scented arbours, delicate ivory flowers shielding
cracked wooden benches
The crowd has thinned
Can we go home now?
Yes we’re going home
Okay, you should really write when we go home.
Don’t play with Cornelius, he won’t let you write
Hey, look, pomelos, kiwi, nangka, all together!
Remember?we were just talking about it last night
Yes, yes.
We get to the car.
Me and me time is over
But I wonder if other people let their minds run free like this
Touching surfaces, dipping toes into a myriad of random thoughts
The windows are down
The wind parts my hair in a hundred different directions
I feel better.
5 comments:
walau, damn long entry man
The black ones are Gibbons. In fact, there was a famous one working on Entertainment This Week. I think her name was Lisa.
Stop rolling your eyes - that was an Ian type joke. I'll leave quietly now.
Bleh!
Ive put off this one till now cos it was such a long blog...work didnt give me a window enough to really read it.
I tend to stand beside myself at times too, usually while alone on pg bridge pillars, or on the rocks, between the fishes bites. I just wish i could express it the way you do woman...it really is a gift.
I realise its been that long a time since ive visited the botanical gardens...thanks for taking me back there.
Mr. Joseph,
Thank you. I am extremely gracious for such high praise (not sure if I'm that deserving lah) but thank you.
(=
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