Malim Nawar

MORNING

martin bradley

Malim Nawar Morning

copyright 2014 Martin Bradley
ebook published by Dusun (non profit
Kuala Lumpur 2014
free download

publishers)

Malim Nawar

MORNING
a prose poem

martin bradley

surreal hummingbird
morning
garden papaya drips
dew
kingfishers flash
blue against
candyfloss sky
Judy Collins sings of
Chelsea
warming chill
of my jeep cabin
softening hard
pangolin killing road
taking me back to the
three cat stooges in

my compound
warming sun brings
bougainvillea bright
golden helliconia
jasmine
and that mangy
mangled one-eyed thief
into my kitchen
stealing fish
brighter
hotter morning
sky cleared to pale
blue
sun pounding grass to

yellow
bleaching paintwork
sending cobras
slithering for shade
another languid day
in Malim Nawar
post colonial
lost tin town
forgotten as the
centuries and railway
track passes
leaving Mrs Hameeds
Bollywood Restaurant
feeding post Ramadan
thosai eaters

10

sitting between time

and teh tarik
another hot day in
Malim Nawar
Malim nowhere
sun pinches
forehead furrows
hand shades eyes
shouty woman resumes
after metal rabbit
break
mandarins
roti cannai puffed and
ready to go
stray dog sleeps

11

adjacent to rail line

honda 50 bumps up and
over footbridge
stopping
momentarily
gawping at post
colonial houses
brick columns
cats sheltering
children
cockerels pecking
colonial remains
erhu
sitar
sweet sounds filling

12

13

14

ears
hearts
emptiness left by
materialism
rivalling nightly
caterwauling
another fine day in
Malim Nawar
Adam nets mining pool
fish
Yusop stretches tea
cup to enamel cup
glass to chipped glass
dreaming of mecca
30 years passing

15

children gone
empty space of
departed wife
pregnant lady
mountain pushes up
revealing belly
on another bright
clear
Malim Nowhere day
as my jeep
rolls
slowly
on
grandmother screams

16

17

18

latah
as I drive
into the kampong
past
blind sisters selling
kuih
shed full of cats
spilling
onto the dirt track
chasing golden necked
proud cockerels
into
sun dried torch ginger
always on
puffing black smoke

19

back down that memory

lane
carbide chimney sold
brick
by red brick
dragon fruit weirdness
fluffy bunny gardens
chinese school
disgorging pupils
bicycles
cars
everywhere noisy
on a hot
Malim Nawar morning
Aliza chases Mohammad

20

21

22

Mohammad chases paper

khalwat goons
chase both
slipping
sliding
greased palms
fingers too fat to pull
wallets
drop cash
Sun shifts
shade to shade
bananas ripe
papayas ripe
coconuts fall
split

23

pandan water cools

thirst
I drink from my old
jeep cabin
drive
one handedly
slowly
ever on
into
the kampong
on
a
hot
Malim Nawar
morning.

24

25

the end

26

Thank you for reading

this prose poem. I hope
that you enjoyed it. Dusun
will be publishing more
short works in the coming
months
Martin Bradley

27

dusun
quarterly
e-journal of Asian Arts and Culture

28