hanoi to hue

a phone’s alarm i wake up screaming “ah, ah, …” catching my breath and fumbling for my phone oh it’s the other guy in the cabin he switches it off leaves the train at the next town I fall asleep again somehow waking to greenery and a voice selling breakfast from a tiny trolley bánh bao nhân thịt miến. »

Author image cos

edges

on the edge of what feels like “new” housing it’s all relative but an unexpected old paved road gave a sense of something closed to road traffic, not foot dead thistles alongside a flock of cockatoos beyond and when i reached the other end through the gate a normal street on one side open land the other kangaroos lounged in the distance a cockatoo screamed but the quiet remained »

Author image cos

and fade

It felt so long since I curled up with a good book that finally doing so felt more dreamlike than usual. Phrases, other people’s memories and the general possibility of something beyond the everyday sameness nearly manage to dislodge some long-seated worries leftover from what feels like a lifetime of work. »

western times

I hadn’t walked this street in years avoiding stray memories so I armed myself with brand new music. Somehow, though the right song hit the right notes and when I turned left to look it hit me right in the feels. Fourteen years and the source of… …plenty of experiences I can neither avoid nor disavow. Reaching the main road in a gasp of air I hurried on my way »

lost in time

it’s a bit like that song: “I would have thought that after all this time I could change / but now I find, I still feel so afraid at the chance of seeing you.” I waxed as you waned I didn’t yet have a grip while yours was slipping. I’ll never forget the final time I just wish there’d been more. »