9:10 (what if)

9 is supposed to be forever, but it isn't.

photo by dsnake1



9:10 (what if)


And I turned my head and there she was.

The winter rain , like cigarette ash dropping from lamplights.

Can you count all the colours in a sunrise?

All the road signs, none pointing you the way.

Just a damn simple job and you screwed it.

Think of a million excuses but none will stick.

The winter roads, bare trees all, look the same.

My world has turned a shade of battleship grey.

Cigarette butts trapped in pools of water beside me.

I turn my head expecting her and she wasn't.



written : 04/02/2023
revised : 30/10/2024
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If you have noticed, there are exactly 9 words in each of the 10 lines. What are the numbers supposed to mean? A significant point in time? September? Eternity?

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Elton John - Your Song

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2025

dark side of the moon #5

life's a drag, sometimes..

photo of Kyoto at night by dsnake1


dark side of the moon #5


there was always talk of downsizing
and now it wasn't just talk

he wondered what his wife was cooking
for dinner, it was not much lately

working on her figure, yoga she said,
was at her friend's playing mahjong

terry the dog drowned in the toilet bowl
just a couple of days back

it was getting thinner, anyway

he wandered mindlessly into the supermarket
the shelves were too much for him

maybe i can get something simple for dinner
just pop it in the microwave?

or not

he shouldn't had turned left into the casino.

\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
ten stories is too high, he thought.
to jump


15/02/2020
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“The sea is endless when you are in a rowboat.”

― Adolfo Bioy Casares, The Invention of Morel

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020

dark side of the moon part #4

As any little kid in school, I did art and crafts but the teacher always kept an eye on me.

pencil/ink sketch on paper by dsnake1



dark side of the moon part #4



I made a frog out of cockle shells glued together. It was a lovely thing, with two very dark eyes out of black beans. I painted its mouth blood red, and its body and head a livid green. I left it on its own to dry. A fly flew past it. I swear, the frog drooled.



02/01/2019
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“have i gone mad?
i'm afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are.”

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020

dark side of the moon, part #3

what an early morning walk through the neighbourhood can do to you...

photo by dsnake1



dark side of the moon, part #3


adjust your eyes to the night awhile. the long line of street lights, they are zombies coming out to play.

do not touch that empty plastic bag rolling, flailing across the zebra crossing. do you feel any wind?

no flowering trees around, but a scent of frangipani? and that lady just ahead, is she waiting for a taxi?



2018, or thereabouts
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"ashes
swirling
swirling
at your
bare feet"

-dsnake1, glimpse

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020

dark side of the moon, part #2

imagine what a messed-up chair top can inspired...

photo by dsnake1



dark side of the moon, part #2



we have to land, she says. we have to jettison some stuff. the fuel, some cargo.
but the people down there, the villages?
fuck the villages, she says

and she runs her ferrari right through the lights...


20/10/2018
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this piece partly inspired by news of supercar drivers behaving badly...

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Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020

eating an orange

anyone wants leftover mandarin oranges from the lunar new year? 😁

Image by MichaelGaida on Pixabay



eating an orange



ORANGE
RANGE
RANG
RAN
AN
A

pip

spit
it out
among
wet soil
and grass
of the trail
will it be a big
tree when i am

gone?



25/02/2019
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Food waste accounts for about 10% of the total waste generated in Singapore. [source : National Environment Agency]


Shared on Writers' Pantry #7 at Poets and Storytellers United.

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020

autobiography of a reluctant scarecrow

A picture that shouts "prompt!".

photo by Jim Semonik at pixabay



autobiography of a reluctant scarecrow


Say, do you know a place for a good bath? No acid, no sulphur, no coca cola. Some WD40 welcomed. Nothing fancy. I have been standing in for those damn scarecrows for the past ten years maybe. They went to town for a drink, chase some barmaids, eat some steak, promise to be back by ten, and never came back. The sun mocks me, sending its best cavalry of sharpened lances, the moon just laughs, sometimes so hard it chokes stars. Last heard, the sheriff found turfs of straw that reeked of alcohol on the interstate. I think it is time to move on. Say, do you know a place for a good bath?


26/03/2019
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“Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2019

every morning the sun looks in

in limbo in the city...

photo by dsnake1



every morning the sun looks in


Every morning the sun looks in with the gaze of a bored child.
Today, a white cloud, with a face of Jesus, floats past the window.

Every second that passes makes me wiser, not necessarily older.
My poems are buried in my pc, they have served their purpose.

Today, a white cloud, with a face of Che, floats past the window.
Disinterested pigeons waddle past on the sidewalk, fat and mean.

My poems died in scraps of paper, they have served their purpose.
The neighbours do not talk much, just smile, we have our secrets.

Disgruntled pigeons waddle past on the sidewalk, fat and free.
The mound of cigarette butts in the ashtray starts to smolder.

The neighbours do not talk much, some smile, we have our secrets.
A blind musician sits on the worn stairs, plucking guitar strings.

The mound of cigarette butts in the ashtray starts to sputter.
At 7 p.m.a police cruiser slides by quietly past the 7-11.

A lady in yoga tights walks her pit bull down the worn stairs.
Late day shadows are darker, who may be hiding in them?

At 8 p.m. a police cruiser slides by quietly past the laundromat.
Late day shadows are darker, what may be hiding in them?

Every second that passes makes me wiser, not merely older.
Every morning the sun looks in with the gaze of a bored child.


18/01/2019
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“What's in store for me in the direction I don't take?”

― Jack Kerouac

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2019