A waxing crescent above Lake of the Isles and the sky drifts towards darkness, crimson pink purple and orange on one side, the first stars in the blackening blue on the other. There are not enough breaths in the human day to take it all in, and even when I do, I’m still not sure […]
vagabondism
It’s April Again (Redux)
I spent most of last year refusing to look at this blog, while it festered away in purgatory, punished for being a low priority. For being ugly and unwieldy and not what I wanted it to be. But now it’s back, and looking clean, and pretty close to what it should be. Some things to […]
A many headed troll at the helm
Imagine a four-headed know it all troll with a broad streak of arrogance at the helm of the Gray Pearl in the midst of the Perfect Storm, the End of the Known World dropping off into Nothing on one side, the whirlpool that almost got Ulysses on the other. If you were a hand on […]
Shanghai
I miss the quiet of my dungeon and the wind through Oregon’s trees. Its sunny here and i am about to be in the Du with all my friends again and its gonna be hard to leave. I am trying to stay for one month but i can feel the pull of oblivion on the […]
One Second Encounters
I left the Council of the Monkey in Pai and headed north through Laos to China. The other council members headed south to bangkok for school and such … I ran out of money in Chiang Rai on the Laos border and had to trade a bottle of Sambuca for a broken bike. I strapped […]
Peep This
Here are a couple stories I have been writing for Matador.com: This is my list of cities for singles and here is the “companion piece” about making love to natives in order to learn their language. Here’s what I have to say about late night food out there. Feel free to drop comments and enlarge […]
Rage against the dying of the light
or just post some love on yer blog and send it through the underground. i remember telling some young Chinese friends about the Tank Man in Tiananmen and they all laughed at me and said it was a piece of CIA propaganda. I think for everybody who does not live in China, the image of […]
The death of traditions
It is so hot and humid in Chengdu right now that my brain is bathing in its own liquid, humming strange tunes to itself and sending me images of massive artillery guns firing into the distance. Spengler is a columnist for Asia Times who has derided the Europeans for lacking the courage to face the […]
Might as well face it
“Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen it …” I always loved that line. So much power and confidence. A calm declaration laced with pride. An intimation of secret channels, open only to the few, that bring the blissful touch of the Divine. I enjoy the way it rolls out of my mouth when i […]
She’s just a young girl …
I met a woman a few months back in the city of Yaan, renowned for rain, fish and beauties. She’s a young music teacher at a high school in town. She took me and Oliver around and we talked till 2am. She is married, has a child and is irrepressibly curious about the world outside […]
On Brainwashing
In China, indoctrination of the youth begins very early. At age 6, young kids are given their first Chinese Reader to learn the vast collection of characters, poems and proverbs that make up the Chinese language. The book begins with a small rhyme about flowers and their need for the sunshine, then goes into the […]
noone can f*ck with my tribe
just got off the horn with a one of my tribe’s elders (hahaha) and it feels damn good. crazy shit is in the mix … seems like we might all be on the west coast of the USA at some point. or Colombia. or maybe we’ll have a powwow in South Africa with the Peer […]
Flode aka Superboy aka Fat Kim aka aka aka
I can’t say enough about this man. Love him. Here is a short description of him on the road in Colombia. Peace to Fat Kim! They told (me) the car to Cabo would be here soon. A pick-up truck, stuffed with people stops shortly after. Probably 12 in the back, four in the front seat, […]
Superboy-FMS Style
My man ….
Superboy
my man on the road.
we are all whores
Essence Jackers are the people I deal with on the daily. They jack my essence, corrupt it, as they themselves are unsure of what they are jacking, then they sell it. I am left holding an empty bag. At the same time, i find myself sabotaging lucrative schemes, because the fake nature of most of […]
Zobel
As told by Markus Tong: “I was guiding a group of people through the Tibetan highlands near Lhasa. we stopped at a village and walked around. We met a young boy, who was selling a piece of paper with Buddhist script and paintings on it. He asked for Y20, I got him down to Y14. […]
childhood trauma
there are two songs which i feel may have traumatized me for life: a lil jingle sung by good ole Goofy in the one about the ship they had just built, that falls apart when they smack a bottle over the hull. Goofy sings: “Ohhhh, the world owes me a livin” Shit stuck with me. […]
late bloomers
i think i represent the peter pan element in all generations. there are many of us. and we are generally smiled upon from on high by those who have escaped never never land and found the path that leads them toward fulfillment. Was peter fulfilled? He had an enemy, his crew, a fairy mistress and […]
The Ends Meet
This one is for my man Flesh if he ever reads this. I have been in China for eight years. Eight, written as we write it, is formed of two circles, or a Moebius Continuum .. Infinity. As the Chinese write it .. it looks like nothing of the sort. But eight is auspicious. When […]
its a high price to pay
It is now the second day of Chinese New Year here in Dali and the fireworks have subsided somewhat. On the sixth, we gathered at the bad monkey and blew stuff up all evening. There are some M80 types that we would throw into the small sewage-rivers that flow along the stone paths through Dali […]
The Delicious Slide
You can feel it when it comesVoices cry out in defiant anticipationThey rub their hands gleefullyThe party is about to startPlaces everyone One said it was a slideshowAnother said it wasStones skipping across a lakeYou can sit back and watch with a smileRaise your middle fingerMoon the sky When the reel stops, ragged and brightWhen […]
Laowai tai duo
yo i am in Lijiang, which i knew sucked hard balls but now after five years i returned to check it out and lord almighty does it suck. the Chinese tourists here are insecure racists and their desires and idiosyncrasies have rubbed off on a local populace that is struggling not to become rude and […]
why do i like him
Beacuse he dreams and emotesBecause I can imagine playin ball with him Because he is one of Us who is Us? I consider Us to be those who have sat in cafesHatin on BushHatin on warsDiggin on James BrownSmokin herb and waxin philosophicalDreamin of new a energy source Makin love with all racesand diggin itSpeakin […]
Dali Town
it always hard for me to escape the monkey in this town. cuz i don’t try hard. the other night we were dancin to irish music, fully lickered up throwin each other and girls all around the bar — twirlin people and flippin each other and such. i received a massive bruise on my thigh, […]
me and sammy at the speakeasy last night
We are having our customary American Coffees at Salvador’s this morning. Sal’s is one of the finer cafes i have ever experienced in China. The food is great, the prices are low, the place is owned by a few gringos from kansas and colorado and run by an army of western yunnan munchkins, under the […]
The devil came down to Clifden …
“The devil came down to Clifden, lookin for a soul to steal, he was getting kinda low and don’t ya know he was willing to make a deal …” Johnny went through Clifden one day and listened to the Irishmen play, they hit their fiddles with a mighty cry and sang to the darkening sky. […]
grumble grumble
well i have tried to put pics up here for days now. i went through picasa and checked out what the deal is — heard that sideways pics is a problem that many of us have. but picasa won’t load the damn pics up so i am just gonna have text now. i am in […]
river lake people
i have been trying to put a few pictures of my trip into the mountains online but they always end up sideways. i will be consulting my computer geek homeboys soon. i was able to sleep at my home a good two nights before i packed my bags for another move, this time south to […]
decompression
yeah i be trippin. but here with my bro in adam its all good. we toured the city and its beautiful, even the ancient hos flicking their thick swollen tongues at us from behind clean windows. red halos. the morrocans, adjusting their sneer to our knowing gaze. the dutch, happy to chat and interested. last […]