Notes on the River 8

Voilà! Slums levelled, wharves, boat ramps,

central planning.

Whites, Koreans, Chinese

in cravats and big sombreros

sip their Caiperoskas

in the Foreign Correspondents Club,

the Nikon 1960 meets

Phnom Penh 2008.

The last His Majesty made Super Eight

for weekly banquets.

In the new arcade of palms

the slave-girl folds her fan

and turns on the air-conditioner.