Gloves (a poem by Saksiri Meesomsueb)
Photo taken at the garbage dump of Uthai Thani, Thailand (Gigira / Shutterstock.com)
Gloves
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In this day and age hands touch with gloves
Other hands with gloves
Different hands, different gloves
They never stay the same
Sterilized gloves
My body doesn't feel the warmth of yours
Our hands don't touch
Our being does not become one whole
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Whatever happened to human hands
A child's hand is okay
Pure and curious
Explores like a child's hand
Feel wherever it can go
Countless mountains of garbage
Where to look
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It finds a discarded glove
What a thrill!
He puts it on right away
And it goes out so easily
Until your hand gets bigger
Then it gets more difficult
-The-
Source: The South East Asia Write Anthology of Thai Short Stories and Poems. An anthology of award-winning short stories and poems. Silkworm Books, Thailand. English title: Gloves. Translated and edited by Erik Kuijpers.
Poet is Saksiri Meesomsueb, in Thai More information, Nakhon Sawan, 1957, pseudonym Kittisak (more). As a teenage student, he experienced the turbulent 70s. About the poet and his work, see elsewhere in this blog by Lung Jan: https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/thailand-om-dichterlijk-van-te-worden/
About this blogger
- Built in 1946. Nicknamed 'Running tax almanac' and worked in that profession for 36 years. Moved to Thailand at 55. Disability forced him from his family in Nongkhai to a house with home care and mobility scooter in Súdwest-Fryslân.
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amazing with so few words saying SO MUCH HG.
์ีNow of course you would love to know what those beautiful names mean.
Saksiri Meesomsueb, ศักดิ์ศิริ มีสมสืบ, Sak means 'power, honour, fame, prowess'. Siri means 'splendor, glory, auspicious, auspicious' and appears in many Thai names. For example the Hospital Siriraj or 'the Glory of the People' or in Queen Sirikit 'Auspicious Glory'.
Mee is 'to possess, to have' sum is 'good, worthy' and sueb 'lineage'. So together 'Prosperous Fame' and 'Dignified Origin'.
Kittisak (กิตติศักดิ์) means 'Honorable' or 'Glorious'.
A beautiful name is very important!
For the enthusiast https://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/noh-anothai-on-saksiri-meesomsueb/
Great Johnny that you submitted this beautiful text to us. A beautiful explanation of this Thai poetry! Here you can see the true nature of the Thai in all its diversity.
Johnny and Tino, about Thai poems, see:
https://thesiamsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2000/03/JSS_088_0e_SuchitraChongstitvatana_LovePoemsInModernThaiNirat.pdf
That includes Thai texts; they are just so difficult to copy from the Adobe files..... I can't do it.
Thanks, Erik, nice article that I immediately downloaded. I have been a long time member of the Siam Society and have traveled extensively with them.