The Gorko Gazette

Daily Humor

thegorkogazette

9.6.2024 7:00 AM

2 poems by Leigh Doughty

Saigon, 7 a.m

Gazing down from the balcony of a cheap hotel,
he saw a thousand frantic motorbikes
battling beneath the raging sun.
Exhaust fumes rose and wavered
accumulating into a great clouds
of grey that leered across the city.

He was supposed to be delving deeper
across the culture and into this new world.
Yet here he was hiding and hearing
the horns blaring and beating against his ears.

The more he looked, the more he feared.
He knew he couldn’t survive out there,
on those choking streets that bared
the lives of energized residents
shooting through chaos
in the most casual of ways.

So he hid and he watched on,
safely sheltered from the teeming masses.
Simply admiring from afar;
in awe and alive.

Can we drop this?

I went on a date last night with a woman and she said didn’t like Bob Dylan.
You don’t like Bob Dylan? I said
No, she said.
What about the lyrics, I said.
It’s all mumbo and jumbo to me, she said.
I said, what about this? And I opened my Spotify.
Stop, she said.
Why? I said.
I told you already, she said, I just don’t like Bob Dylan.
Jeez, I said.
Listen, can we drop this? she said.
Sure, I said.
So we sat down with our drinks and talked about tv and I listened to her talk about the tv shows I didn’t like and then she listened to me talk about the tv shows she did not like.
When it was time to go we dropped the money on the table and left.
How was the date? I said.
Fine, she said.
And then she got in the uber and left.
Great, I said.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Leigh Doughty is a writer and a language tutor based in Saigon, Vietnam. His previous work can be found in the VNexpress and the Meridian. When he’s not working or writing, he can be found lounging around with a good book, being good at doing little.

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