Poetry from Thailand

Original poetry written in and about rural Thailand.

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Location: Chong Khae, Nakhonsawan, Thailand

Monday, July 1, 2013

An Afternoon In The Dead Of Winter



 In the morning, I shoveled out a square
underneath the clothes lines in the back
yard. My mother would then wipe down
the plastic lines with a rag, removing little
icicles and dirt.  She looked like a strap hanger
on a subway when she did this, but of course she
wore her winter coat and boots and, being short,
always had her neck craned looking up.

In the late afternoon, with a red sun setting
I brought in the frozen clothes, folding
sheets like craft paper and crushing other
stuff just to hear the ice crinkle. The cold
seemed to compress distance and even street
sounds a field always seemed closer, more
important.  She thanked me for my help,
but in fact it was as much fun as anything.
She was baking bread and the wonderful
smell inside seemed larger than anything
in the dark world outside, too.  I hung one
of my shirts on my door with stiff arms
out to the side like a ginger bread man.

Warmth, smells of food - the only sad
thing I can remember of this afternoon
was seeing how little time it took for the arms
of my gingerbread shirt once brought inside
 to become just shirt sleeves once more.

FG

June 30, 2013

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