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Click title to download PDF microchap
Cover: Noi-na at Elephant Nature Park
www.elephantnaturepark.com
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Chiang Mai Glories
breeze tickles hair across my cheek
cool during the heat of garden work
trees scold and shake spring leaves
for attention— watch me! watch me play!
jasmine woven in the fence pretends
a dry gurgle, water! water!
petal scent luscious
in sunset arias
dog walking,
morning glories deep purple erupt
in the crack between road and wall
seeds liberated from some garden
wild children silent in morning sun
untended, unintended,
ask nothing
but earth
Bamboo forest
Bamboo forest ramble
Lake Biwa glimmers moonshine
poetry pillows
rally the tangled senses
in semblance of reverie
Patience of Chains
dedicated to Lek’s Elephant Nature Park
Noi-na knows the patience of chains
the grind of toil , the hope of food
tattered ears, scarred by spikes and age
Furloughed elephants in slow cortege
a chancy walk in viral times on country roads
to northern mountain and river refuge
City echoes,
Ride the elephant! mahouts
surrender old elephants to sanctuaries
Old lady Noi-na rocks on her feet
anxious at the gate of uncertainty
Too old to change
Bolt cutters snap rusty links
Noi-na walks gingerly on grass towards a river
plunging, she hoses off dusty decades
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Orange marigolds
offered to his cold heart,
soft silk of petals
a plea, a prayer, for words,
a poem, a fire in my heart
His gaze faraway
Ganesha's universe turns
in spinning star fires;
yet, in his hand a scroll waves,
I swear, for me to answer
Day Trading in Chang Moi
A two liter bottle of cola gratis,
I pass it along to neighbor Gung
here on Sittiwong Street
Husband of Gung, Potapong,
offers a large bag of grapes
over the fence, eat-it-today purple
A hand of bananas,
presented by the laundress
as I pay for washing and ironing
Days in Thailand, we are
welcomed as auntie or uncle
in our Chang Moi community
my husband cared for me
in sickness and in health,
so village grandmothers
say to young girls,
find a man like Uncle!
We have learned day trading here:
grapes bagged up for a young family,
bananas to the corner temple
for their young monks, free blessings
in the trickle down economy
of loving kindness
Offerings
By the Door
By the door, his shoes
abide the patience of work
demands of each day
travel and travail, the shoes
return next to mine
Enmeshed
Our fingers enmeshed
I thought there would be more time
Father breathed out
as I gazed out the window
at the long shadows of trees
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Victoria Crawford © 2021
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Victoria Crawford shares her world in Thailand where she lives in an old teak house in Chiang Mai, once the capital city of the Lanna Kingdom, surrounded by a moat and remnants of thousand year old walls. Her poems have been published in places such as Hawaii Pacific Review, Poetry Pacific, Verse Virtual, and Cargo Literary.