Amazing Thailand

On my morning walk I pass a bevy of pea hens

in front of a wat which in the low light of eight

in the morning would make people sliding into

colorless winter gasp for its roofs of golds, reds

and blues.  But these pea hens without their

peacock mill around on the cement pad in front

of the wat’s magnificent gate of silver bars without

a clue.  They are a strange looking pride with round

bodies the size of a three-year-old’s beach ball

and they are the color of the dusty,  gray bag of

my mother’s 1950s vacuum cleaner.  Their small 

white heads with even smaller red combs look 

to me like a hideously inflamed male member.  

“Good morning, ladies,” I say while they seem 

to lift their skirts and flee from me to another room 

where better offers may be found. 

FG           12/6/2015