In the Home of the Homeless by Angkarn Chanthathip

In the Home of the Homeless by Angkarn Chanthathip

1.

One window among many
reflects events    mirrors rubbish
a broken roof lashed to its frame
collapsing and crumbling as it struggles on

the crowded world of the homeless
the community of the world could offer
the edge appears    missing a family  nearly recovered
the house stays cold   alien   hardship returns

to have your roots yanked out from under your family tree
to wander through different times and places
strength ebbs away    destitution    charity
impressions blur    hardship approaches

one essence in submission   those people
one essence    many differences
fallen    absconded    overgrown    neglected    just 'a case'
the times shift and change    on the move

'refugees' through circumstance
pressure wears you down    constricts you
until aborted hope collides with strength
grit marks fade    never entirely

grimy windows in the heart of the city
exist    go    are   strange    lonely    distorted image
portrait    identity    'ghost'    living
twisted shadow    blamed

the house you can't find    can't return to
the hope that sustains    the dream that warms
under the flyover    pavement    have mercy
image fuses    eroding love

possessions gone    roads closed    promises broken
can't go forward    can't go back    trapped
public place packed with the poor
the centre cordoned off

'refugees' through circumstance
melt into disarray
Sanam Luang Park* trespassed    altered
expands into every corner of the city

2.

look around aimlessly    against the world
instinctively connected    release
rubbish mounts    cast offs    abandoned
destitute    deprived    humiliated

looks unsettled like an unfinished house
dream no further than a home
a road    an alley    a side street    like a sign
nothing is what is seen

* Sanam Luang is a large public park in the centre of Bangkok that became 'home' to a large number of homeless people who were then 'cleansed' from the area.

The Poet's Testament by Angkhan Kalayanaphong

The Poet's Testament by Angkhan Kalayanaphong

I wrap the sky around myself

to keep away the cold

and eat starlight late at night

to take the place of rice.

Dewdrops scatter below the sky

for me to find and drink,

and out my poems flow

to greet the morn, to last the age. 

My heart, sacrificed to its grave,

gains unworldly powers;

the spirit flies to lands of dreams

the far side of the sky.

It seeks divinity in Heaven

and brings it back to earth

to soothe the sand and grass,

bringing happiness, bringing peace. 

My purpose in composing poems

is to salvage the soul.

now lying upon the swift, bold

currents and waves of time.

Although this life, which is not long,

gets all used up so soon,

the heart's proclamations,

sparkling and divine, shall last. 

Let your body burn away

in its crematorium—

poems made with strength and sweetness

cannot be burnt away.

Whichever world the soul's reborn in,

there will be floods

of precious holy rainbows,

flashing crystal and sparkling gems. 

Stillness is spirited into joy

by the written word,

as Heaven's precious heavy rain

extinguishes the heat.

The heart is swiftly blown away

to dream in other lands.

This life smells sweet. The next

will have reflections of its sweetness. 

I'm willing to renounce my life

and to throw it away,

I only want valuable goods,

the twinkling and the new.

Poetry surely is the most

sacred art of all,

magic as sweet bouquets are

that, taken from a precious wood,

have fallen from the sky.