as guides went, Jhamba could yak your hind legs away
this turned out to be an asset on Punakha market day
Bhutan Series: Jhamba/Punakha
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Bhutan Series: Ngawang/Thimpu
Ngawang fast walks 20 clicks before breakfast
returns in time to guide a stroll of guests
he’s been a monk a soldier
an 8-times snowman trekker
these days chasing the tariffs
to send his 3 girls to school
working for milk toast money
past the peak he pulls away
giving me space to descend the valley alone
there in the flurry of prayer flags
an orange butterfly leads me down
consonant effects
pretty maids all in a row: bhutan
beaky mates all in a row: bali
belt
is the belt back in fashion?
it joins
connects
uplifts midrifts
takes up the slacks
or so
these days we’re told
belts bring great gains to all
yet a belt once it’s fashioned
can cinch
squeeze in
constrict the strips
transect the tracts
you must recall
some other ends to which
stiff old school belts were taken
you’ve heard the tale, of the sorry young soul
fallen heedlessly, hauled up to safety
by kind stranger’s belt, held out in charity
for years to follow, the rescue celebrated
the hero lauded, the great grand saviour
the other unnamed, forgotten lost in the plot
i’m just saying
belts comes with their buckle
road
at dochula pass we holler together
we three thinley, jigme and me
Hegyelo! the gods prevail!
thus we hail
the Himalyan wall
that’s said to keep
the demons out
by divine decree
even as one hundred and eight stupas
commemorate the human forces at work
the fourth king’s bloody defence
of independent borders
to secure a net result of
gross national happiness
past dochula the path descends through cypress
we stop to snap a shy Gray Langur in the trees
Kuzo Zangpo La! Good to meet!
thus we greet
the annual cavalcade
of abbot chief
having blest and left
vacating his winter seat
near sunset our roads unite at Punakha
where with the help of friends and strangers
we unfurl what we have carried all this day
and hoist upon suspension bridge
above father’s river* the wafting prayers
of one hundred and eight sutras
*Po Chhu: the father river
eden project #5: ironman
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eden project # 4: stalking
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eden project #3: tissue
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eden project #2: under hex
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eden project #1: over view
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antipodal 2011 