2019/8

Global/NaPoWriMo 2019

Day Eight

THE BAMBOO KUBO

Hot as a troglodyte's carbuncle they

were up running down the beach

swimming in the sea at

something before six breakfast at

eight fish more fish and rice

would you like more rice uncle

no thank you I tell them

would you like another coffee

yes please the coffee comes sweet

as heaven two types of sugar

white and brown what other sugars

have you got I ask them joking

they go to try to find some but all

the cane sugar has been fermented

and distilled into vinegar no worries

I'll just drink the coffee as it comes

they tap a coconut tree and fill a placky

bottle with the sticky water It'll be wine

this time tomorrow they tell me all thirty

of them plus children staying at the Bamboo Kubo

08042019

THE BAMBOO KUBO

II

Five four three four one

I don't know what's going on

everybody else takes it in their

stride Pied Piper style the sand

is so hot it's burning my feet

Apart from that the games

have started how do you confuse

a basketball player put him in a

volleyball court and tell him to

take a kick (of the football)

They rabbit in several different

languages at the same time

if it sounds like Spanish it

probably isn't it could be Tagalog

or Taglish or really bad English

They change direction as often

as I change hats not that I do

change hats very often that is

but I'm sure you get my drift

my shirt is sticking to me now

I went fishing this morning and

caught a piece of driftwood well

if the truth be known I stumbled

across it walking up the beach

you can't beach driftwood can you

Love the bamboo Kubo thirty

of us plus kids staying here

right on the beautiful beach

they've got a well pump in the

shaded courtyard and a little shop

The shop sells ice cold pop Red Horse

Ginebra and apple juice so what's what

it's nearly twelve noon the games will

resume again soon no time for football

we have a programme a schedule to keep

I gave the kids a togger ball to kick around

they picked it up and booted it rugby style

over the beach volleyball net you can take

a horse to water but you can't make him think

they think soccer is an Americano TV show

Hello Joe they say when they see me Wanna

drink San Mig or Gin come and sit with us

I try my sixty-five words of Tagalog but they're

hell bent on practising their English I worked

in Hong Kong for ten years one man tells me

Do you speak Chinese Mandarin I ask him

No everybody speaks English he says and

all my china plates speak Tagalog anyway

what were you doing over there I ask him

earning money to support my family he says

The minutes morph into half-hour segments

even the Karaoke Machine is quiet at mid-day

everything is a subsidiary of something else

these days I'm waiting for Peaches and Cream

to come on again I know the words to that one

I can smell the fresh fish cooking on the bamboo

grill the rice is cooking too and It'll soon be time

to eat again I think I'll go for another walk on

the red hot sand I got stranded earlier with bare

feet standing on my towel a local rescued me

Don't you just love flip-flops or slippers as they

call them down this end there's always a means

to an end and this is no exception the moral of

the tale is wear protection or get your tail burnt

shorts and tee shirts are better than burning up

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