Selected poems from 'Tabular Rasa' by Jeff Raheb

Havana       Paro Dzhong - Bhutan       Dal Lake - Kashmir       Bamboo       The Center       I Pour You A Cup Of Tea       For The Women Of Bosnia       You Say It Is Raining       Zimbabwe       The Comet       Pygmalion       Ganges       Nasca - Peru       Zu Twa Szi       Body Rain       The Shadow Puppet (Jogjakarta )                       Songkla - Thailand       5 Haikus

The Shadow Puppet (Jogjakarta ) Shadows on the wall Leather puppet laughter seeping through the ground Javanese man long buried is uncovered by the puppet dance The hammering sounds of the gamelon orchestra move like vapors through the blood vipers through the ground Shadows on the wall our shadows like puppets we are watched The darkness hides the real figures We see the shadows only our shadows Dancing on the wall The audience laughs from the wall We see ourselves sitting The wall is everywhere Copyright 2004 Jeff Raheb