a breeze scatters the ashes from my cigarette
all over my legs and onto the ground
now they make tiny mountains of rubble
along with burning villages where it's lights out
before their inhabitants could even think
of worshipping the sun

parting lovers never have much to say
but i think i'll write their names somewhere
and forge my signature on a love letter meant
for an ocean that is inexhaustibly rocking
while cursing the moon for always pushing it away
when it's just trying to fill her craters

the spoils of history go towards making
impermanent things permanent on things
impermanent like the arms of those unknown
and like my backpack swallowing pens
maybe it wouldn't happen if we stopped
romanticizing the ink

my body falls in pieces from the heavens while
you're on earth mingling with the best of them
and it's not until halfway through a cosmopolitan
that you realize you forgot to catch me and
now the ants on the ground are getting stuck
on a love that could have been

have you ever noticed the shape of hearts
gives them a symmetry that makes them
capable of being folded and neatly tucked away
out of all the people you've met in your life
how many of them would you reach in your pocket
and unfold one for

if there's a reason i've melted it's because
my cigarette tastes an awful lot like you

I don't know what it holds, I never did.

Although I can't traverse past the speed of light, of late I've been wondering what lies beyond this point. My journey to the west has triggered this feeling; the complement of nostalgia.

Strangely, I can hear the whispers from the other side in the chaotic and cacophony-ridden west. The beauty of a cosmopolitan.

I'm positive. The sounds are telling, like music from the Congo; Beautiful.

It's true. We live in Schrodinger's paradox.

But these sounds are telling.

In my striving to achieve
joy and happiness,
I find it useful
to study carefully
all the hundreds of cultures
of the world
to discover
how each culture
achieves joy and happiness
in their own unique way.
For example:
What food do they eat
to achieve nutrition-joy and taste-joy?
What music do they listen to
to achieve music-joy?
How do they dance
to achieve dance-joy?
How do they govern themselves
to achieve a joyful and happy society?
How do they feel and think
to achieve joy and happiness?

I look up, out of the car window,
and somehow I forget that I am here
and not there,
and it’s a momentary relief
mixed with bewilderment,
but then it ends,
and I’m crushed by where I’m not.
I don’t believe in a location called ‘home,’
but I miss certain locations
more than others,
and I’d like to feel in place.

Isn’t the world supposed to be full
of people who are also
confused and out of place?
I’m not the only one,
the only alien on this odd planet,
but when I look around,
I still feel isolated.

“Lool, maybe I could come whisk you away”
He quipped

Be serious! I’d love to
A date, on a date with you,
Nothing too serious, of course.
Maybe lunch, dinner and discourse.
I’d love to watch you laugh over a meal!

....delete

Well, if you’re serious we could fix
Something. I think I like you and it’d be nice
To meet. Let’s do something, Maybe ice cream?
Rufus and bees? Or a movie?

...delete

“Lool, big head”
... Enter.

“Hehe” – he goes.

(BACKGROUND)

Some insight into my life,
By academic "stage" and country:

British Kindergarten in England,
Swiss Elementary in Switzerland,
International MS in England,
French HS, then Int'l HS in Korea,
Undergraduate Studies in NJ, USA,
(3 month-residence in Korea),
(8-month residence in Hong Kong),
Graduate studies in QC, Canada.

--------------------------------------------------------­----

I have shattered my identity.
Frequently. Involuntarily.

I have undergone assimilation.
Socially. Psychologically.

I have encountered discrimination.
Directly. Racially.

I have endured isolation.
Grievingly. Impotently.

I have ill-wished on others.
Subconsciously. Unintentionally.

HOWEVER –

I have learned to be human.
Individually. Collectively.

I have discovered empathy.
Emotionally. Compassionately.

I have gained knowledge.
Culturally. Geographically.

I have acquired expertise.
Intellectually. Linguistically.

I have become a citizen.
Locally. Globally.

Perhaps we who are born and meant to move,
Are intended to, and exist to locomote forever,
Walking lands, sailing oceans, mastering the world.