Another Time, Another Place. [Poems and Prose]

Balik Kampung

Balik kampung: 

A Malay phrase that means, 'returning to one's hometown'. 

***

Five day stay, five day stay, ringing

 in your ears as you clamber out the car,

crunch underfoot, color of rust.

Shy reunion and mumbled greeting, handshake,

timid glance, you are in and out again.

The birds reproach your delay, the cat threads

round your legs, belongings replaced

by sunshine and truancy.

You tread the long-worn trail into the plantation

out back. Uncharted jungle.

Butterflies evade your net, gecko egg in a tree hollow.

Rambutan bursts on your tongue, mangosteen

firework, nangke, ciku, the durian tree hasn't fruited

in years. You tiptoe, hoping you find

the monitor lizard in the undergrowth.

Then retreat at the mosquitoes' insistence.

The town seems a little brighter, a new restaurant

on the corner. Dragged to the supermarket,

to ogle sweets that never reach you

in the city. Pushed to the tailor's,

to haul out school clothes for

the new year ahead. The ABC Shop

is still in business, you stop

In the field to play football.

Come home in time for nightfall.

In and out again, you pile on the branches,

Stuff the dry grass, palm leaf bedding,

ignite it with your father's lighter.

Dance around the fire roasting leaves on sticks,

Watching the ash fly away into nothing.

You are in the car again, soon enough,

And the house disappears over your shoulder.

***

A freeverse poem I wrote about going back to my 'kampung', or village. As a child I would tramp out the back to go explore the plantation behind the house, alongside my siblings, cousins, and father. We would comb through the entire plot of land, examining fruit trees to discover any sweet riches hidden in the branches. Those are some of my fondest memories.