Kopi Bali caffeine and poetry no wonder I can’t sleep

from the night river one owl calls where is your mate?

monsoon heat sweat itches my pierced ear lobes

humidity air too thick to breath flourishes epiphytes

Ubud dawn sliver of crescent moon slides under alang-alang thatch

Wayang kulit across sunlit leaf shadow of squirrel-leap

hati-hati! bunch of bananas heavy overhead

tukang kayu chopping high in banyan both protected by sacred cloth

young man stretches for hibiscus flowers heart-red they grace my bed [Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Oct 2004]