Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Japan

Tidying up at the moment and I found a stack of old notebooks. Here is a poem I wrote, if I remember correctly whilst enjoying a coffee of two at the Red Rubber Ball cafe in Kyoto sometime around 2001. I quite like the way it lends itself to the use of blockquotes.

The Immigration Office

i.

itching at the four

cardinal

points

of the

body

bites scratches

scars

ii.

twenty five year old

white

male

kyoto

espresso

New Zealand like a Cronenberg film

iii.

recurrences, reiterations

new t-shirts

old techno

strong coffee

uncut fingernails

accretions, accelerations

iv.

a slowly dis(s)olving language

Negative

synonym

risky

homograph


difficult: sentence pattern


v.

here. how different

bright colours

explode

on the

street

from the north

vi.

these people so japanese

brash

bright

bold

colour symphonies

and so very (un)japanese

viii.

there poems are

readers

digestive

condensed

biscuits

their ellipsism stands them

vii.

are you thinking about

shabu

techno

tattoos

motorcycles

I am. am I?

ix.

are you thinking about

crystals

ink

rubber

You are. are You?

x.

in the north

All they

say

about

country music

holds true for WB

xii.

a flow of people

young

younger

youngest

youth

past the window

xiii.

the little orange gates

see

attached

photographic

samples

the paint is flaking

xiv.

A waitress

“I

terror”

t-shirt

bleached permed bunned up hair.

xv.

bring

me

another

cup

of

coffee

please

xvi.

shopping shopping shopping

this

nothing

like

home

sale? BIG OFF!

xvii.

the sad thing is

the tourists

video camera

strafes the cafe

in your arms

you can’t love anymore

xviii.

it is 18:01

031

061

001

Sat

we are, reliably, informed.

xix.

terror worldwide

stenciled

across

her

book

I doubt she knows the implications.