Bottle Labels

*Please note that this doesn't really have to do with Cambodia directly. But I wrote it a week or two ago and I thought it captured some of my feelings on traveling in general.

I peel the labels off bottles,
first: out of nervousness
because social interactions
are often too laborious
for my awkward little mind,
initiating a policy of isolationism
with the rest of humankind.

Second reason
while others collect stamps
and tossed out things, used,
I prefer the labels off the bottles
of all the world's booze

Singh, Corona, Stella Artois
Heineken, Heferweisen
Gallo, Angkor

A mound of labels begin
to pile into place
maybe it's a part of a higher
aspiration of world peace,
across culture and race,
hands held together from
Afghanistan to Belize.

Or maybe its the thought of
of a kitsch labeled table
or of a lamp
to revamp my apartment
and the prospect of an "ooh and awe"
from strangers and friends,
a far more likely reason.