As those readers who have followed my recent posts know, I had a great time hanging out in Hanoi, Vietnam. Of course, traveling on my own, I missed Sheila and our wacky menagerie of dogs and cats. I arrived home yesterday evening after a short flight to Taipei from Hanoi, and a long one from Taipei home. Fortunately, I was able to saw some wood on the flight home, and was more or less coherent when Sheila picked me up at the airport.

I stayed up for a while, my body unsure if it was supposed to be night or day, but finally I did go to bed and slept well. I’m hoping jet lag will be minor this time around. I’m writing this Thursday early afternoon, and while I do feel generally tired, not nearly so rocky as 2 years ago when Sheila and I returned from Asia.

Waiting for me beside the computer was a single piece of mail. Fabulous! – it didn’t look like a bill and I love mail. I opened it up to find the latest collection of poems by my friend Dr. K. Syinide, entitled, The Psalms of Poverty.

Dr. K’s poems resonate with me. Those of you who listen to the Agency Podcast heard Candy and I read a few of his works aloud during one of our recent episodes.

Here is one of Dr. K. Syinide’s poems from his latest collection:

STATIC WORKLOAD

out in the shed
where they keep the beer bottles
quart upon quart
of nothingness,
where the star faced mole lives

this is where we dream

lunar rakes, flowing guides
to oval eyed flamingo type
franchise rare infants
asserting their subtle tea time comments
concerning
the evangelization of a fluid workload

executing feeling in regards
to the pedagogy surrounding
voluntary serfdom,
sacrificial obligations…

will there ever be a remedy
for this feverishly think skin?

as the mole opens its head
to those transmissions
from the intuisphere
all communication abruptly stops
for once again
we have a problem
with the sensitivity readers

and all modes of emotional labour
becomes static

If you are interested in reading more of Dr. K. Syinide’s poems, I encourage you to contact him at:

SLAUGHTERHOUSE CONCEPTS
PO Box 98022
970 Queen St. East
Toronto, ON
M4M 1J0