[Poem] A Wat Is To Temple As To Escape Is To Survive

Among the many stone Buddhas,

A novice from Luang Prabang,

Barely half my naïve years

Beneath those loose robes:

Caught seconds before

The next orange prayer

Walking towards nirvana,

His smile precocious. 

I wondered if someday

in a distant century

we would see

a statue of him

paving the way

for my children

From Tanon Sai Jai, 2009

March 24, 1874 is the birth of escape artist Harry Houdini.