Morning in Yangon 1/1/2012

A new year in the west and here time and date wise, but the Burmese new year is April. I try to remember years gone by but become creeped out by my ever-growing fingernails, hand extensions like shells. Dancing all night on the streets i am delirious. Another swig of Tiger. When i think about these words i think of her. The woman in ginger who has inspired my ambiguity –   ” Can you try to be less poetic?”  He, the boy in the tall dark and handsome has gone, regressed, never to be thought about again. I concentrate on my love, sitting there asleep. Hard fast remembrance.

New year is nothing special. Not the end of something nor the start of something else. A festive season, a climax a dip. Just another day in this choice of world travel and the feelings of happiness to be here. For you, the monk i am not forty-five, but why should i describe the fluctuation?

New years eve spent in the Shwedagon Pagoda, Buddha’s gold shining the brightest i have ever seen it. Beyond his deity i see deeper the spark that ignites so many across the globe. Visible a song of passionate light sung by this country. Zipped by the military regime. Maybe that’s why the song is so loud, the light is so bright. I pray for change for the county, a voice for the nation….and then there is her……

Her, the lady with the tight top button and waif like frame. Elegant and poised. A mother to this country that i feel like i am sharing to some extent. A woman for whom i have so much respect. Revered as a goddess. Yesterday she was around my neck. I was told i was brave to wear her. ” My government is wrong, bad. They did the explosion”

I have a question!

Does being on the road, countries one after the other make you lose sence of reality and of sentences. Stringing words together where the ones you know think you have lost the plot, spiralled out of control OR is being on the road a choice and a chance to get lost? Experiencing the diverse magnitude of people, of lands, of cultures. The diverse magnitude of emotions and meaning and freedom. A time and space in which to lose so much of what you have become – in that town, in that job, in that society, in those expectations of what is normal?

I may spill  my guts in words but i am the most open i have been in years, and the most happy to be in this place. This current state of flux. A time to explore my place in this world. No come down, no dip, no expectations. A time of inquisitive thoughtfulness. A time to reflect and be inward. A time to breath.

Happy New Year