Pattaya, after which is stereographic plurality
Based on what I saw today in the reflection
of tall trees on the river, there’s a Barthesian notion
of swirling things trying to drink the water,
their spreading tension the surface of claw-prints
and misty roars in silver. I tried to identify them
in their uniform art of consciousness—namely:
floating markets, shipbuilders, dreams and deltas,
river ports of morrow, fish-spark confessions,
a falling tear. All of these worth surrounding the
only mirror held by the invisible hand of water.
This mirror in the heart of the river reflected
a figure of the literary life with strange curved
horns on its head. It was not at first easy to look at.
I saw it and admittedly got confused with its mis-
understood image. But every time it moved things
stopped swirling. A moment of silence shone.
And slowly there was a sight painted with pleasure,
a riverine hospitality from Okkervil to Thailand.
Lawdenmarc Decamora is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize-nominated writer whose work, including poetry and critical essays, is forthcoming in North Dakota Quarterly, Comstock Review, AJAR Press, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, and Humanities Diliman (Scopus-indexed), as well as the anthologies What We Talk About When We Talk About It: Variations on the Theme of Love (Darkhouse Books) and Mingled Voices 4 (Proverse Poetry Prize). He is a serious vinyl record collector and professor in the Philippines.
