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- One Big Holiday
One Big Holiday
The grasses that come with my mother’s picture
are Tibetan and uncertain
and they cant do anything but wait to get on the plane
back to my country and I had to ignore the wounds
because the monks asked me to in backrooms
covering every face I’d seen in brittle fabric
cutting their eyes open into perfect orbs
and handing out robes robes for everyone
and no one could sleep it was always too bright
and my gut was full of cancer and spreading to my hands and mouth
and everyone around watched the neon flashes
and I couldn’t draw the blinds
and the soldiers were climbing up the side
and handing out keys
and giving away stacks of rivers
and they shut down the temple with a big iron switch
and so no one prayed they just laid on their rugs
and no one was asking for money anymore
and it was 100 kilometers to night
and I sat next to psychiatrists and politicians
and their hands were stapled to Buddha’s neck
and for the love of me I couldn’t find the bathroom
and no one showered we just pointed fingers
and I knew something was wrong there couldn’t be this much marble
and when I stopped to ask questions they took my picture
and I still had another day
and I wondered why I came
and I wanted to tell the brick layers to go home
and none of them knew how anymore
and I saw a yak with half of its skin out in the field
and there were handfuls of dust everywhere
and the schools were clay forts with black windows
and all I knew how to do was feel the scarf over my mouth
and everyone carried a flute but the air was silent
and everyone’s attempt at shadows was just bright light
and I fell jumping from ship to ship
and I never gave her my ring even when she asked
and I touched Buddha’s feet and he spit in my hair
and there were only corners left
and somehow I saved ten birds from the lake
and all the colors of the prayer flags made a disgusting soup
and I made a squealing noise each time I saw a t-shirt
and the mountains are dangerous
and feel like the deep scars on the rancher’s faces
and I only took pictures at night
and when I tried to write all I could spell was poor
and the cobble stones hurt my feet
and made me question hotel managers
and there weren’t any trees
and when I got through I had to have breakfast
and I always felt like a gloomy worm forgetting to do something
and Claudio and I walked together with the goats
and threw rocks at their sides when they stopped
and the ground was incredibly fertile for torture
and I heard a cow prod go into a nun’s vagina
and nothing felt moldy it just grew old
and I felt a cactus growing from my heart
and I put the toaster in the bathtub and shaved my head
and I saw a Lhasa Dumpster
and it said sometimes it helps to dream
and I disagreed
and watched Chinese soldiers give that nun what she deserved
and I cried
and perhaps I could say in the desert each grain notices nothing
but that’s welcoming and boring
and that’s madness
and the last evening I want to save
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