This Post is Heavily Monitored

i'm in Singapore on account of my mom.

Was at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve today. Observed

- 1 ferocious shower spelling no relief passing
- 2 monitor lizards basking in the sun motionless
- 3 monitor lizards languid swimming in the brack like snakes one in faraway shade of cathedral roots one later braving an open pool of light
- 1 unending chorus of crickets meticulously tuning their instruments
- 1 monitor lizard beatup tailless heaving out of coppery pool with an almighty splash
- 1 monitor lizard stand-off .. flickering tongue on the foot path refusing to get out the way and me nervous not knowing if he knew i come in peace
- 1 mosquito on my left arm abdomen ballooning with my blood that i promptly dispatched from this earth and too brief life and left me pondering on karma
- 1 mosquito on my left arm bloodless next to mosquito with blood who was also dispatched henceforth with same palm slap and left me itchy
- schools of fish glistening in pond like burnished change cast in wishing spell
- 2 kingfishers flash of blue
- 1 mudskipper size of a turkey drumstick sinewy in oily water spastic on land
- 1 whooping call from an unseen bird in the canopy that brought flood of memory of place i used to live where each morning i was roused with the same and swore bloody revenge but now feel fondly
- 1 monitor lizard expired in flotsam upsidedown
- 3 labourers siesta in hide tousled with my inconvenient arrival
- 5 sideways crabs brooking no audience retreating
- 1 evil looking wasp like bug that seemed to think i was following him and meant harm when i was just going down boardwalk following signs and more nervous than he before we parted buzzed his displeasure in my ear
- 1 juvenile monitor curious polished head peeking out of hollow of mangrove stump at my passing
- 4 shiny sudden skinks
- 1 mudskipper walking on water why not swim
- 2 waterhens conversation
- 2 movements on mudflats indistinct just out of field of vision imagined perhaps
- 2 singaporean families of reluctant children with complaisant parents out of element too white legs in tow
- 3 separate unexplained bursts of noises beyond the reach of language and imperfect grasp of meaning and memory
- 3 flights of rowdy pipers wading out the distant winter searching for crustaceans and news from home
- 1 five foot long crocodile whereby i went holy shit! out loud to no one and feel blessed who calms me with one primordial beady eye and soundlessly slips into water on other side of embankment out of sight forever