from Saigon Drift
Federico Castigliano
10.7733° N / 106.6854° E
Ekstasis: the raw journey of perception.
A breath caught in the throat.
Incandescent excess.
I am the poet of tremors,
an alchemist of detail.
Tao Đàn. Spiced smoke aloft.
Meat sizzling: citronella, garlic, lemongrass.
Papayas breathe summer.
A kiss, half sweet, half bitter.
Durian wounds the air.
Pulling you close, pushing you away.
Tube-houses rise
like jagged quartz peaks.
Faded walls. Wrought-iron lace.
Some eroded, others defiant.
All trembling under the same sky.
Federico Castigliano writes at the crossroads of poetry, philosophy, and place. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature and Culture. His work explores urban wandering as an aesthetic experience and an art form, and has appeared in Poétique, Italian Studies, Journal of Consumer Culture, Fuori Luogo, and Open Cultural Studies. He is the author of Flâneur: The Art of Wandering the Streets of Paris, translated into four languages. Federico Castigliano is online at federicocastigliano.com.