Mr Pink ruminates and reverberates
once upon a time
as many a story starts
I had a pink suit
specifically, I had a copy made
of the suit I had made
to wear in court
(that’s another story)
my sister took me to Psar Olympic
to buy suitable fabric in a particular shade
thence to a tailor in Psar Tuol Tom Pong
and so thus: a stage costume
for a project that did not last
little did I know
a whole new Project
was dangling on the horizon
and in the new Project
I began to wear the pink suit
and quickly became Mr Pink
although the joke was lost on me
as I hadn’t seen the movie
and then unfolded several glittering years
or perhaps that is better expressed as
several years of glittering moments of taking to
sometimes hastily ill-prepared improvised corners
sometimes broad, vividly-equipped stages
in pink jacket
(the pants were jettisoned early)
ragtag making-do concerts and strung-together tours
constantly battling to lift the voice above the din
in places that became more than words on maps
as they were fashioned into anecdotes
snapshot memories
filtered with a bias towards the upside
travelling with the universally beloved
made the road smell sweeter than otherwise
whether the show that night was full or empty
(whenever there was a crowd it was enthusiastic)
accidentally spending his twenties in his forties
Mr Pink grew in unexpected ways
gathering friends and travel tales
dusks and dawns
in borrowed beds and on spare couches
through highway miles and passing squabbles
turning the heads and tweaking the ears of the diaspora
bewildering the barang who were quickly charmed
by the universal beloved
eventually this expensive hobby
gave way to other ways of life
and Mr Pink hung up the jacket
and it did actually hang on a wall
listening to the bands play
for a couple of years
until it was exported to New Zealand
(that’s another story)
pinkness was refashioned into a waistcoat and boots
and Mr Pink splintered in new directions
letting the water and the wine flow
from spigots newly minted
so Mr Pink raises a glass to the roadmates
wherever they are now
and we all toast the universally beloved
because she was
and tonight is another night
in this city of eternal ephemerals and delights
even if we don’t all
live happily ever after
– for Troy, and for the universally beloved
thesilverpepperofthestars 