I made this poll to find out if my name is too complicated for people and 50% said yes thereby giving this libra no useful information whatsoever. Thanks.
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Showing posts with label Ralph-Michael Chiaia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ralph-Michael Chiaia. Show all posts
22 July 2010
19 August 2008
The Mysteries of the Kiblat...(revealed)
What is Kiblat? by Ralph-Michael Chiaia out at Yellow Mama, August 2008. I am not the only one who has worried about the kiblat. A Chinese Malaysian girl I know was paranoid about hidden cameras in her room.
She lived in a dorm with girls from Mauritius, Somalia, Korea, and England. The non-Muslim girls who weren't familiar with the word Kiblat (or Qiblat) thought it might point to the direction of the hidden camera. Others thought it was the direction of the emergency exit. Another theory was that it was an advertisement for a local Malaysian band.When I was in high school, my first date was with a girl from Iran. She was one of the sexiest girls in the school.
Some of the things from those formative years come back to me now that I am in my thirties and doing my thing out here in Seoul, Korea."What is Kiblat?", a new short story at Yellow Mama, examines some of these things that have been with me over the years.
Enjoy!
Find Text Here (if the above link ceases connecting):
What is Kiblat?
Ralph-Michael Chiaia
These girls, one with a long serpentine tongue and who let me see her naked, said these words to me. These girls from my high school. They weren't bad girls. Well, they were. But good bad. You know what I mean. The kind I wanted to drink with, get high with, have sex with. Good kind of bad. They were like that. That's what I heard. One was hot, too. I mean really hot. She gave me a piece of gum she was chewing one time, you know to throw it in a trash bin for her, but I saved it and tacked it on my wall like a trophy. Whenever I was near them or talked to them, they giggled. They said that word. Then giggled. One night I got them pretty drunk at my house. Then they disappeared. I walked in on them in our recreation room making out. I asked if they'd like to make a sandwich. They said no. Before I could get upset, the hot one left me with the other one. She let me do whatever I wanted with her. Her tongue was really long and pink—it came to a sharp angular tip. I have never seen another tongue again like that. Her eyes were enormous, like those statues of Shakti or Saraswati. Also she had a cleft on her chin that looked exactly like a miniature of her own ass. I had a great time with her, but my mind wandered to the hotter one. I was young.
Jump ahead.
Fourteen years have passed. Not much has happened in my life. Well, I got divorced once. Had about three different jobs. Maybe four. Lived in five or six different countries. Stubbed my toes hundreds of times, bit my lip in the thousands—goddamnit! Looked under "k" in many dictionaries in various languages. Had a few different girls. Ate many tacos, many kebabs, a lot of noodles; smoked many cigarettes, drank many different brands of beer; masturbated God only knows how many times.
Then, it's right there on the motel ceiling. A green and white sticker with black letters on the white center: Kiblat. Like “Keeble” or like I don't know what. Like nothing. Like those girls. Like that cleft chin that looked like her ass. I get that burning in my loins, now in that pleasure center deeper than the loins thinking of her cleft ass, no, thinking of “kiblat.” What is “kiblat”?
There it is, unique and indiscernible, like an ancient hieroglyph—a memory-emotion pictogram that I cannot decipher nor contemplate. Right there on the cracked motel ceiling. I can't take my eyes off of it even when Aisha, this new girl I'm thinking of getting serious with, is on top of me with all her goodness. She's bulbous in all the right, and a few wrong (but nobody's perfect), spots. Even when she pulls me up to suck on a very right part of her, I think, “kiblat.” I pull away from her and read it aloud: "Kiblat. What the fuck is ‘Kiblat?’"
"Forget it." Aisha pulls me on top of her. "Focus."
I roll off of her. "I can't until I find out what that means."
I move to India. I live in an Ashram, spending one week in total silence. In Tokyo, I do editing work and try to learn Japanese to no avail. Incidentally, Aisha and I no longer even email. I dream up an Internet marketing scheme while sunbathing on the beach in Thailand. I put all the money I saved in Japan into this foolproof scheme. I move to Korea broke and teach English. I meet a young Korean student who lures me with great legs and a wonderbra. I feel cheated by her wonderbra, but don't let that ruin everything. She opens her bag while laying on my couch naked, her little breasts perky. A Bahasa-English dictionary falls to the floor. I pick it up for her, it's open to "k". My eyes go straight to the word “Kiblat.”
It points you in the direction of Mecca.
30 June 2008
Review of Ten Poems & Amerpsands by David McLean
14 June 2008
Flash Fiction -- A useful, simple instruction manual regarding allergies
Thank you to those of you coming from Yellow Mama. Those of you coming from another source, please check out my new work "Instructions on Calming Allergies" up at Yellow Mama -- where there's a lot of brilliant work. One piece I particularly liked was "Orders" by Jarg Scott. Other pieces are from the usual crew: cindy rosmus, george anderson, lyn lifshin, cynthia ruth lewis.
In other news, Lit Chaos #37 is out to rave reviews. This is a very dynamic issue with a music video, visual poetry, art/poetry, (regular) poetry, and flash fiction to its credit. So be sure to check it out and check out the Lit Chaos Wiki where you can directly get involved in the litchaos.com community.
In other news, Lit Chaos #37 is out to rave reviews. This is a very dynamic issue with a music video, visual poetry, art/poetry, (regular) poetry, and flash fiction to its credit. So be sure to check it out and check out the Lit Chaos Wiki where you can directly get involved in the litchaos.com community.
23 April 2008
New Short Story
A story of mine ("My Last Name is Abraham") came out last week at the East Hampton Star. It's about a woman calling home. Abraham is pretty high up in the phone book, so it's one of the first numbers she dials.
Click the link above to read it. Check back for more new work. Also, check the links on the right column to buy my book or get some useful advice and such.
10 October 2007
Ralph-Michael Chiaia's Publishing History (As of May 2011)
January 2011-May 2011Glyphic Blog (rss'd to Facebook Notes)
May 2011Poetry Forum at Madswirl.com
February 2010
June 2009
The Poetry Warrior
For Monks Only Blog
November 2008
October 2008
Yellow Mama
September 2008
August 2008
Two Poems: "Waiting to Shower" and "Closing Time"
Clockwise Cat
July 2008
What is Kiblat?
Yellow Mama
(a fiction, a fact)
June 2008
Instructions on Calming Allergies--
Yellow Mama
(never mind the formatting troubles, the piece is funny!)
What is poetry, anyway?
Mad Swirl Poetry Forum
(1st alter-ego revealed)
May 2008
Singapore side-street
Ink, Sweat & Tears
April 2008
3 Poems about Jin-a
BlazeVox
able online at the Zygote Bookstore
The East Hampton Star
*not available online, see Feb 2008 to see it published online
She Smacks Him
Typepad
June 2005
Art History
No Beauty Sleep
Disintegration - Young Virgin Auto-sodomized by her own Chastity
Misanthropists Anonymous
May 2005
Pillow Talk with My Girl
Word Riot
Part of the novella-in-verse Glyphic. This sections deals with the two revolutionaries, Cris & Paco, and how they met each other. It is all a story to the girl to whom he speaks. Or is it?
2004
Not a lot going on for Ra writing-wise. At least not that he can remember.
Book Reviews:
Two Poems: "Waiting to Shower" and "Closing Time"
Clockwise Cat
July 2008
What is Kiblat?
Yellow Mama
(a fiction, a fact)
June 2008
Instructions on Calming Allergies--
Yellow Mama
(never mind the formatting troubles, the piece is funny!)
What is poetry, anyway?
Mad Swirl Poetry Forum
(1st alter-ego revealed)
May 2008
Singapore side-street
Ink, Sweat & Tears
April 2008
3 Poems about Jin-a
BlazeVox
The East Hampton Star
*not available online, see Feb 2008 to see it published online
Typepad
Art History
No Beauty Sleep
Disintegration - Young Virgin Auto-sodomized by her own Chastity
Misanthropists Anonymous
Pillow Talk with My Girl
Word Riot
Part of the novella-in-verse Glyphic. This sections deals with the two revolutionaries, Cris & Paco, and how they met each other. It is all a story to the girl to whom he speaks. Or is it?
Not a lot going on for Ra writing-wise. At least not that he can remember.
12 August 2007
Publishing History
Visit Publishing History where you can find and read more or RMC's work. He publishes online often and has been published in print more recently, including fiction at the East Hampton Star and poetry in Zygote in my Coffee's 4th Print Edition.
Check back as this site is updated regularly with to new work. Thanks for visiting.
Check back as this site is updated regularly with to new work. Thanks for visiting.
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