tonight in bilbao, april, ghosts of dirt roads
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Artist:
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Album:April - Bonus Disc
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Track:Untitled 3
infinite thanks to mogtiplier amber, who hooked me up with April and the other beautiful discs by Sun Kil Moon, the band of my favoritest guy, Mark Kozelek.Untitled 3 : Sun Kil Moon : April - Bonus Disc : 3:03
i toddle out of the Toyota Corolla and into the middle of my umpteenth nowhere in Cambodia. my job takes me places, as promised, such as this: Kampong Speu - an hour and a half by land from the capital - area: 7,017 sqkm - inhabitants: 598,882 as of 1998 - pop. density: 85.3 inh./sqkm. i turn to every cardinal direction to see nothing; an endless horizon, at best.i am here to shoot babies. (rather, someone does the shooting on my behalf.) my eyes can see as far as all of three houses but the crowd that gathers 'round appears to exceed six families. each time i turn my head, a different mother is cradling a different baby that i give up counting eventually.
the ubiquity of flies and cow dung does little to dissuade me from the exercise of constant hydration. i refuse to share my two litres of bottled water besides, whereas i fail to find my appetite all day. i do not know what is worse: that too few people live here or that people live here. i blame the dry heat for my foul mood.the few minutes' drive to the health clinic gives me just enough time to consider that there is such a clinic in every province in Cambodia. that is a good thing, i think to myself until i come face to face with one: it is ghostly, beaten, locked.
the health clinic, a good walking distance from any cluster of life, offers too little improvement from the pseudo-doctor who is already present in each given neighborhood. no one ever comes, i am told, except when giving birth. outside i find a curious-looking brick structure tapering up to the sky. none of the city crew knows what it is. i offer no conclusions and will only say that it looks like a furnace.
i toddle out of the Toyota Corolla and into the middle of my umpteenth nowhere in Cambodia. my job takes me places, as promised, such as this: Kampong Speu - an hour and a half by land from the capital - area: 7,017 sqkm - inhabitants: 598,882 as of 1998 - pop. density: 85.3 inh./sqkm. i turn to every cardinal direction to see nothing; an endless horizon, at best.i am here to shoot babies. (rather, someone does the shooting on my behalf.) my eyes can see as far as all of three houses but the crowd that gathers 'round appears to exceed six families. each time i turn my head, a different mother is cradling a different baby that i give up counting eventually.the ubiquity of flies and cow dung does little to dissuade me from the exercise of constant hydration. i refuse to share my two litres of bottled water besides, whereas i fail to find my appetite all day. i do not know what is worse: that too few people live here or that people live here. i blame the dry heat for my foul mood.the few minutes' drive to the health clinic gives me just enough time to consider that there is such a clinic in every province in Cambodia. that is a good thing, i think to myself until i come face to face with one: it is ghostly, beaten, locked.the health clinic, a good walking distance from any cluster of life, offers too little improvement from the pseudo-doctor who is already present in each given neighborhood. no one ever comes, i am told, except when giving birth. outside i find a curious-looking brick structure tapering up to the sky. none of the city crew knows what it is. i offer no conclusions and will only say that it looks like a furnace.
Comments (21)
anna, the brave one. i would've said "anna, the bold one" but i have a feeling it might stick. ;d it is indeed, i suspect like you, a crematorium for babies. the saddest thing. i've had similar thoughts on hospitals, especially at war-time, the stuff of hauntings.
mike, RHP music is Mark Kozelek in his youth as much as SKM is him but older and wiser. if i listened to RHP now, they may not have become my favorite band ever, but back then they were the most relevant to me, so that stands. (:
helen, you're the one who needs captivating. where have you gone to and are you back?!?
aug, yeah, same here, a lot of notifs getting lost in the sea of email, including some of your awesome posts. as for that question, i will have to mogmail you about it one of these coming days. ;D
Ok, I'll be waiting with baited breath ilay, hehe.