Free Verse
Arrival
A ten hour
flight
then three hours in the airport
waiting for another flight
bleary eyed, we breathe stale air
haul our baggage
then a taxi
the driver is on the wrong side
we are spun around in the dark
then a long tail boat
and a boy to take us
we are the only passengers
strange beauty here
we sail in a palpable darkness
approach the necklace of lights along the shore
we take off our shoes
carry our suitcases high
step into the warm water
and wherever it takes us
we have arrived.
Meeting on
Railay Beach
after the long
flight to Bangkok
and another flight to southern Thailand
after the taxi to Diamond Cove
and the long tail boat in the dark
we slept well
woke with birdsong
and blue orchids
we opened the door into February summer
walked past wide brimmed gardeners patiently
scraping scarlet leaves
and there was the beach—
Scandinavian families with blond babies
played in the warm white sand
elaborate tattoos rippled in the green
water, all you need here are flip flops
and a straw to sip coconut milk
I squinted
and saw Tzahi our next door neighbor from home
beautiful in the sun
laughing with a bunch of friends
it seemed perfectly natural to meet him here
halfway across this improbable world
he said this is where
I want to honeymoon
who’s the lucky girl I asked
I don’t know Tzachi said
but this is the place.
The
WhiteTemple in Chang Mai
the woman
cuts a small triangular mirror
with a razor
and painstakingly glues it to the white plaster
and then another
every morning to work for the Buddha
and we stare at the temple in Chang Mai
with its millions of tiny mirrored parts
and sigh
we know no devotion like this.
Women
here in the
golden triangle
from the long necked tribe
get battered
copper rings
strung around their necks
from the age of five
till they die
when that’s all that’s left of them
it’s a penance
the guide tells me
that only women must do
because some queen long ago
lost their kingdom
so the women must suffer
and maybe then the men can get their kingdom back
I don’t think the women ever wanted it
surely not after this
