Large trucks force us onto embankments.
This road is too narrow for comfort.
For a while, the Mekong runs alongside,
another lane of quiet traffic.
We pass ships moving silently upstream,
pilot lights winking in assurance.
Suddenly, the sky above clears,
stars swing free, away from the blanket
that is Saigon, that is every city,
where too many lights
stifle the cool breath of night.
Sometimes I feel safer in darkness;
perhaps this is the raw tension of faith.
Then the bus rounds a bend,
illuminating for a second
a farmer cycling through the dark.
We have blinded him - from everything
he once saw so clearly.
Poet Douglas Kearney and composer/producer/drummer Val Jeanty link up for a a compelling LP that feels like the written word come to life. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2021