Poetry from Thailand

Original poetry written in and about rural Thailand.

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Location: Chong Khae, Nakhonsawan, Thailand

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Mrs. Brown


Mrs. Brown, who called us creatures,
Once asked the class: which would you
Prefer to be - a novelist or a poet?
It’s the type of question I now know
School teachers use to fill up the dead air
Of gray, rainy New England days.
I said poet because it required less work.
I suppose I wanted to make her mad, but
In an unschooled way I was right:
Writing verse is not really work at all.

Mrs. Brown (sad to say) suffered from a
Skin condition, and measured herself against
A lawyer brother (who ran for governor) and
A famous classmate who wrote a novel
Called Peyton Place. She soon left teaching
For politics and the last I heard of her
Was to see her name on a plaque dedicating
A planetarium to the New Hampshire teacher
Killed while taking a rocket ship ride.