Notes on the River 8

Voilà! Slums levelled, wharves, boat ramps,
 
central planning.
 
Whites, Koreans, Chinese
 
in cravats and big sombreros
 
sip their Caiperoskas
 
in the Foreign Correspondents Club,
 
the Nikon 1960 meets
 
Phnom Penh 2008.
 
The last His Majesty made Super Eight
 
for weekly banquets.
 
 
 
In the new arcade of palms
 
the slave-girl folds her fan
 
and turns on the air-conditioner.

Notes

• In the new arcade of palms
  the slave-girl folded her fan & turned on my air-conditioner.
  
  The italicised lines are by John Berryman, from ‘Temples’ Selected Poems 1938-1968, p. 99.