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Brian Taylor has been a Poet and Philosopher in Cornwall, England and the Far East.
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Category Archives: Bamboo Leaves
TIGER CAVE TEMPLE
By the Temple Gatemacaques lie in wait.They squabble and fight,like chickens, for the bananasoffered by northern Europeans.They snatchbags and camerasand are happy to scratchand bitethe hands that feed them. An enormous limestone hillthree hundred metres hightowers above the temple. A … Continue reading
Posted in Bamboo Leaves
Tagged Buddha, caves, dell, fig trees, forest, Guardian Deva, macaques, mountains, Snake Cave, temple, Thai, Tiger, Tiger Cave, Ven Chamnean
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MEO
He has dirty feet;“Washing is dangerouswash much, sicken and die.”He wears a short black jacketand floppy black trousers.A large silver lock hangs round his neck.She has a blue jacketand a tightly pleated kiltof hemp and cottonwith heavily embroideredand weighted black … Continue reading
Posted in Bamboo Leaves
Tagged Bamboo Leaves, bribes, British, Burma, cash crops, Chinese, cotton, hemp, hill tribes, Jungle, maize, missionaries, opium, poor, smiles, tax, Thai, tourists, trees
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MIDSUMMER DREAM
I dreamed of Paradise Garden;sunlight sliding downfrom an infinite skythrough cedar trees to emerald lawns;oriental poppies six feet high,Indian butterflies gliding bythrough multilayered shades of blue.Olympian Apollo’s statueholds a fountain in his hands,which swirls and mists, sparkles and cools,cascading down … Continue reading
Posted in Bamboo Leaves
Tagged Bamboo Leaves, dream, eagles, fountain, free!, Indian butterflies, midsummer, oriental poppies, Paradise Garden, prison, silver sands, solitude, song birds, sunlight, world
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ECONOMIC CRISIS
BE SMILE DENTIST advertises down onSoi Anuman Rajadhon.Next door Anglo East Surety Brokerinsures diamonds and gemstones.Having struggled with the world’s economic crisis,faced with a shortage of government bailout schemes,Anglo East has decided on a fundamental solutionand invited ninety-nine monks to … Continue reading
Posted in Bamboo Leaves
Tagged bailout schemes, Bamboo Leaves, broker, Buddha, chanting, demons, dentist, dhamma, diamonds, Economic Crisis, exorcised, government, merit, monks, new robes, offerings, precepts, sangha, temples, Thailand
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THE CIRCLE LINE
Round and round the Circle Linein endless pursuit of me and mine. Familiar scenes go hurtling past,each new vision much like the last;grief and suffering, hate and paincoming round and round again. Where are the stops where the doors slide … Continue reading
Posted in Bamboo Leaves
Tagged Bamboo Leaves, Circle Line, decision time, escape?, Exit, grief and suffering, me, mine, new vision, respite, stations, stop, view
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DYING RACES OF MANKIND
When the rich see the very poorthey know it is timeto buy their valuables.Cheaply. This ancient peoplewere driven out of Tibetby the Tibetans,out of China by the Chineseand out of Burmaby the Burmese. Ah Kah people are very poorand cannot … Continue reading
Posted in Bamboo Leaves
Tagged Ah Kah people, ancestors, animists, Bamboo Leaves, Burma, ceremonial swing, China, Church, jewellery, manipura, mankind, missionaries, poor, rich, shining souls, spirits, Tibet, tribal knowledge, western industrial society
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GETTING INTO HOT WATER
The forest is dense and undisturbed,the trees high and overshading,the birdsong harsh and shrill,the giant cicadas persistentlike throbbing brass. Paths have been clearedand wooden bridges laidover a latticework of hot yellow streams.These infiltrate the vegetationand send up clouds of steam. … Continue reading
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Tagged Bamboo Leaves, birdsong, butterflies, cicadas, forest, heat, jacuzzi, minerals, steam, trees, waterfalls, wooden bridges, yellow streams
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NEW RECRUITS REPORT TO THE GUARDROOM
On Tuesday after a silenceof three months,suddenly,where the junglethrows evening shadows over the bougainvilleas,all the cicadas shouted out at once;stretching and releasing their tymbalslike the shimmering and vibratingof a thousand silver cymbals. No notices were posted on the trees.No announcements … Continue reading
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Tagged all together, Bamboo Leaves, cicadas, guardroom, Jungle, new recruits, nothing in their diaries, silence, silver cymbals, single silent drum, trees
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THE HEART OF DARKNESS
The explorer draws his mapand plunges into space.Why should he stumble onat every fresh mishapand draw back in blank surpriseas the landscape he has createdis revealed before his eyes? Having nailed his mirrorin its placefirmly to the wall,why the sudden … Continue reading
Posted in Bamboo Leaves
Tagged Bamboo Leaves, explorer, heart, horror, landscape, map, mirror, own face, terror
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