This is a cheater Blog as I’m copying my daughter’s poem which was just published in an art and literary magazine put out by Stanislaus University here in California. My weak tie to things Thai in this blog is that she’s wearing a shirt I bought for her at The Mall Bangkapi.
I think the line about “bees making honey in the room” comes from a conversation we had last summer with a friend of ours who had bees doing that in her room. The Abbot at our Wat attributed it to the fact that she chanted in her room nightly.
The Banana Tree
The banana tree is doing splendid
we’d thought she’d never make it
her boughs so ripped and brown from the wind
the very image of a sapling in a storm
but look,
her leaves are green and strong
there are little shoots all about her
the bees are making honey in our room
the tiger is watching with curiosity
the flowers are growing in through the open window
the bird is squawking on my head
and I
with so much to do:
paintings to paint,
stories to write,
and books to read
am lying on the front deck
just like that lizard over there in the sun
watching the banana tree grow.
