Monday, January 19, 2026

Sound Princess


No one's given any thought to the syrup leaking in the pissoires here eternally without pause. The supermarket was bad enough, through the festive season particularly. But one was more prone in the conveniences, more exposed and vulnerable. It was always taken in stride in this republic, not a flicker, slipping completely beneath the radar. How much something, something just now at OneKM, love or kisses sweet offered. Brief pee; limited damage. Couple uncles were at the mirrors with their combs; couple cubicles occupied. It would be impossible to quantify the derangement. Were those tunes in fact AI creations? The bland dribble certainly fitted. There was a beautiful, lightly coloured chanteuse highlighted on BBC, huge commercial phenomenon, with the question hanging whether she was in fact flesh & blood, a bona fide citizen of the meatworld. It was still unknown, it seemed, even after record breaking $$$. A kind of Elena Ferrante of the musical scene, twisted couple notches. Years the tickle had been continuing at the better class malls, where the plush, roomy conveniences, the a/c curtains made powerful, powerful draws. There was nothing of the Japanese courtesy products that they deployed in their loos in Nippon here; the tone was almost whisper thin in this case, breathily cooing into your ear. Impossible to mask unwanted eruptions with that kinda pitter patter. Did they flute tuxedo smoothies in the ladies, perchance, tickling the gals where it hurt? It needed investigation.

 

NB. See Japanese bathrooms online. It was a wonderland; Disney level. You could bet the systems were installed all through Mar-a-Lago, and no doubt the remodelled White House, along with the chandeliers & gold leaf.

 


 

 

 









Sunday, January 11, 2026

Crinkled (July26)

 

Crinkled large shoulder bag carted by an older Malay, a maid possibly.
        BLAND
          LIFE
         Huh!?…
         The initial reading raised a twitch.
         Turned out with some pivoting… & swivelling… the I… had been hidden in the folds… And the B revealed to be a S.
         Groan. 
         The other kind of minor wit was uncommon here; nonexistent in the manufactures. (Or almost non-existent: few weeks back another tee, JUST CAN’T DO IT.)
         Here in the present case it reminded of a Brit lager lad type’s tee down on the Montenegrin coast earlier in the year. Carried on the rear in that case. A cartoon dunderhead like the Duck in more youthful years... Stranded… on a desert-like landscape… yet one that in fact included waterfront of some ill-defined, unappealing kind. 
         Unfortunately, rather apt for what the ancestral strip had become over these last decades of cruise ships, YouT & Insta features, paddle boards, ice-cream & pizza. 
         NOTHING the simple tag carried in caps.  
         The guy, the Duck, had done his best. Gadded about, took in the sights, tried his darndest. Left wondering.
         The water, sun, sand, games, umbrellas had blotted out the dark, looming hills ringing all round. Blotted out all their meaning.






Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Venomous (Jan26)


 

Old crone was first noticed at the teh counter ordering. Deft way of displaying her charms at every possible opportunity. Five minutes later awaiting her food around the other side of Abbas she got offa her feet for a spell, pulling up a pew at the end of the pair of tables. Back turned, angled away, but still able to present a portion of that artwork resting before her. Remarkable dotted pattern covering the whole of the back of both hands, right down to the knuckles and up to the sleeves, baby peacock eyes perhaps the motif. There might have been 25 on each, with the colour tone of the iris picked up in the deepest crimson of finely shaped nails. One wrist at least was banded with strings of gold, (the watch musta ridden up under the sleeve). The usual henna was nothing like. Gotta be tail end of her 70s, if not beyond. Face mask & navy cap rather than scarf further shrouded. (On a closer look when she turned slightly, the younger age was clear.) Did grandad even now benefit from that dazzling allure, that spider suddenly emerged from the jungle, when it began crawling over his chest? (Further was not required.) The palpitations here would start way ahead of any overt action, little fever quietly stoked unawares. A few minutes later when she was spotted again 3 - 4 rows back the decision was made. The hell no! We are gonna give that a try! The pose requested would be with the pair raised together before her, pinkie of the right giving a soft touch of the left’s ring finger—cropped later just above the line of chin, perhaps. Two steps back to collect the phone and quickly swinging round again, only to find the grandad had come to collect their purchases. Surprisingly youthfulness. That display would certainly not be all in vain there, not every single day. Highly serviceable. The old duck collecting her cane before setting off had it all properly sorted.


 

 

           Geylang Serai, Singapore 2011-26

 

 

 



 


Saturday, December 13, 2025

Bing & Bob (‘Tis the Season)

 



Paper cup with the plastic lid removed and eschewing the straw (plastic), it was only the Chrissy lounge & carols one needed to contend with. Furnishings and the prospect on Wong Ah Fook, well, added elements. On the other hand, a little chat with the coloured young crew, intro-ing snatches of their own language, lightened everything. Screen fixation at every choc brown table — you get that everywhere. Pinches the brain to consider the heartlessness in the calculation; for the construction visible through the window likewise. In the case of the design along the canal, that was less heartlessness and more ineptitude and sheer boneheadedness. There was thought of the architects Jimmy Lim (local Aga Khan winner) and Sabine Johnsdorfer wincing at every single step. Even still Jimmy in his 80s now. Like trudging through merde no end in sight.


Johor Bahru, Malaysia 











Friday, December 12, 2025

Up & Down the Tube (Howard Zinn & Michael Gove) published by Fleas On the Dog

 # Published by Fleas on the Dog, March 2021



Up and Down the TuBe (Re: Howard Zinn & Michael Gove)

By Pavle RaDonic

WHY WE LIKE IT: Moxy kool.

(Spacing and format is author’s own.)



Up & Down the Tube (Re: Howard Zinn & Michael Gove)

Howard Zinn

Isn't he wonderful. Heard him before. Loved the mentions of Mark Twain & Helen Keller.

Who in the heck knew that stuff? Carefully tailored fame.

From memory an autodidact, not uni grad.

You notice the size of the nib on Trumpet's signature quill? See the pour of lustrous black

from the Fordham grad who cheated his way into Penn.

Remember Prof Blainey only a decade & half back during Howard's time, Bush's sheriff,

banging on relentlessly about the advance of civilisation, impossibility of holding back

against lesser cultures, refusing the black armband version of history. Still not dead the old

bastard, god forgive me. (The voice of Bab at my back.)

My Pentel ENERGel 07 flows like a dream. Brought 20-25 refills with me out here, as well

as half dozen pens; near the end of the supply after such an extended stay. Disdain inferior

product. It took the Japs some good while to refine the technology for their nibs. Not to be

taken for granted. You drop or even knock them, goodbye the cascading outpour from the

heart.

His skin treatment in the shot here, as well as the autocue either side he swivels to read from

like a halting schoolboy. You can imagine years ago how long he practised that tag, curls,

hooks and flourishes to die for. No statesman in history has anything to compare, Theodore

Roosevelt poss coming closest.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_L7U0R0oSM






Michael Gove

Knew the name but never laid eyes on the man previously, nor heard that voice and those

rhythms.You feel humanity has been cruelly trapped and overpowered by malign forces of

darkness causing such numbers to be herded into the language of this fellow's marauding

ancestors. Stuck there we are like insect specimens in aspic. Three minutes of the twelve was

as much as could be borne. You begin to think of the possibility of the revenge of the natural

order currently working away on that island through this pandemic, the late interventions by

BoJo all too little. Did you hear his recent freedom-loving guff contrasting Brits / Germans &

others?!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV42soUXW_g



NB. Replies to mail from George




https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/9a0949f4-1d2a-4a7c-b9fb-a96b9b6bd861/downloads/NF%20_5%20_Up%20and%20Down%20the%20Tube_%20by%20Pavle%20Radonic.pdf?ver=1614992528313


# Published by Fleas on the Dog, March 2021. Orig. posted on the Blog, Sept 2020. This here is the Fleas layout.






Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Pendulum Papers Archive

 Three pieces in the Pendulum Papers archive, an Australian literary magazine:


Sequestered

On the Horn

Visiting the Zen Man Al


https://www.pendulumpapers.com/archive/search/?query=Pavle&btn=