Bukit Lawang sketches

Bukit Lawang sketches

i

is it raining?
Alex asks
no
we are just surrounded
by river and stream

ii

explosive crash
onto tin roof
monkeys making
typical trouble

iii

barefoot=chicken-leg
when Cedar’s legs tire
he sighs
my baby cows are crying

every day for me
the quandary:
insufferable heat
or offensive thigh display?

iv

mixed fruit drink
and ginger tea =
exotic refreshment

by day 3:
back to Coke & Sprite

v

mama/baby orangutan appear
vivid orange against the green
of the cave’s gap

you are unlucky
our guide says sympathetically
you already trekked yesterday
(=made unnecessary payment
for extraneous orangutan viewing)

you mean lucky
we say
our orangutan economics
quite different

vi

better to trek Saturday
our guide says
on Sundays local people come here
to photograph tourists
they scream too much
when they see you,
frighten orangutans

will they lure us with fruit?
I ask

today on the bridge
a father suddenly throws
his son’s arm around Cedar
snaps a photo
what will his story be?

Thanks to Cedar for helping type this poem.