Colloids
Night in the Tropics Bar.
Rum gurgles down
The gutters. Sway
Of scented screens.
Off at sea, breeze
Flutters the mylar.
Swish of gin
Against tea leaves:
Too small a sound
For tamarind.
Nutmeg ground
On mint.
Canopies
Of banyan trees
Make believe
The island totters,
On the brink
Of stupor. Lamps
Fizzle, blink,
Stamped
With the leisure wear
Of mist, above the swizzle
Sticks. Wounds
Are in the air,
Its occluded front
Misting spoons.
Waning trades
Caress the sands,
Drizzle dries
before it lands.
Lobes of vapor rise.
Droplets coalesce.
Amber energy
Of the monsoon,
Mimosa of the blowing spray,
Sliver of Moroccan moon
Always on the wane,
Pestle muddling grain
And spritz of Pimm’s
Saturate our growing pain
With your drunken whims
Through the trembling djinns
Of our island rain.
November 14th, 2021
March 4th, 2023
Kaiholu
Explanation
A colloid is a liquid suspended in another liquid, like a Jäger bomb.
Some say that colloid particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others say they can be in sprays like aerosols and gels.
Here there are several colloids on display, a mixologist’s world sloshing around in the Tropics Bar, the bar in the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which used to be on the beach until some functionary decided it should be in a wire cage to guard against the sugar birds. So the birds just walk through the holes in the wires. They remain begging beguilingly on tabletops. But the customers are now properly caged, lest they damage the birds. The cage flaps aren’t mylar, but a cheap plastic, the see-through kind which rapidly steams up and becomes opaque. They used to make a great Tropical Itch.