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
08042019/1
