This Little Piece of Kuala Lumpur

I drive past this little piece of Kay El almost daily,

Yet I have never really seen the lives here in all their glory.

Today, my radio is off, the phone is silent, and the jam, I see.

 That old temple has grown since I first saw it decades ago,

The masjid at the corner is under renovation behind advert-covered walls.

The ever-present mamak eating places, hives of feeding activity.

Metal urns painted red line the pavement of a shop with porcelain deities.

Flower garlands on racks yellow, red, and green.

Shiny new motorcycles and in-service ones in various states or repair.

A young prostitute standing by a doorway in micro shorts and skin-tight t-shirt.

Another in her thirties maybe, in a bright blue tiny dress revealing enticingly.

A man exits another doorway looking relieved

He slinks away almost afraid that he would be seen, embarrassed maybe.

Behind him a woman, walking while straightening her tangled hair absently.

The light turns green and I move several yards then stop for more to see.

A young man steps out of a barbershop. He glances in a mirror as he passes the door.

The light turns green and I drive away.

Perhaps I will be detained here again tomorrow, perhaps another day.

Hazidi Abdul Hamid

7 September 2013

This Little Piece of Kuala Lumpur by Hazidi Abdul Hamid is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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