[Poem] Dead End in December

Dead End in December

When you leave me, don’t think
You’ve truly gone.
You’re fastened to too many gluons
And neurons, anchored to this gray
Beneath bone between wood and wave.

Don't believe you’re some sea gull.

You haven’t wings.

Sitting by the seaside, these planks
Of ancient piers,
Let those ships sail on without you.

You try to live like everyone else.
You try to mind your business.
You get married, you have your children,
But you will return.

Whether from Yoharneth-Lahai,
Antarctica, Pakse, some Plutonian bay,

The call is deep, relentless,
Your true fate an old cobblestone

Set in place long ago
When we first began to howl together,
Pledging faith from the same shadows.

Covered at Fangoria Magazine

This week, Fangoria covered the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Elgin Awards for Book and Chapbook of the Year. Innsmouth Free Press' collection of my poetry, DEMONSTRA and Helen Marshall's Sex Lives of Monsters from Kelp Queen Press.

As a young boy, I grew up with many an issue of Fangoria, so this was a nice milestone to reach. They've been around in one form or another since 1979 and established themselves over the decades as one of the leading voices on modern horror. With their coverage of Mattie Do last year, it looks like Lao horror is about to get on the map!

Contemplating Gop Nyai: The Frog Who Eats the Moon

Gop Nyai: ກົບໃຫຍ່, The Lao refer to a lunar eclipse as "The Frog Devouring the Moon" and often shoot at the moon and make noise to scare the frog away.

Gop Nyai is the giant 'frog' who returns time and time again to eat the moon. What would it eat next, if it succeeds?  Some accounts suggest it is not a giant frog at all, but skeptics should consider: If it were not a serious threat to the moon, why would elders and ancestors bother making so much clamor to chase it away?

It's entirely possible that the term "frog" is NOT really accurate, but a placeholder term. "Frog" may be closest thing to describe such an entity. It might be oozy, repulsive and horrifying, titanic and capable of devouring the moon for its own ends, possibly turning its attention to the fabled Mount Meru at the center of the Multiverse next.

Just something to consider.

[Poem] Laostronauts

Laostronauts

We weren’t first.
We bickered and chafed.
There was a doubt of equations and purpose.

There were poems and dances,
Bawdy jokes, undocumented heroics.
Lost tools. Fumes and shouts.

At least one species went extinct before
We were through. Some sort of salamander, I think.

A beauty sang “Champa Muang Lao”
Last night by the gantry.
There were fireworks over Vientiane.

We called her The Kinnaly to take us to space.
We’ll return to earth, legends of science
Starting something…

A chain reaction of the soul?

We’re a long way from alchemy and pure karma.
These suits are heavy, just to touch something

           So freely.