Transfiguration (a poem by Saksiri Meesomsueb)
Shapeshifting
=
A clod of earth can go after the throw
burst; a thunderous explosion
The enemy flat on his face
Stands up again as if by spell
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A wooden gun can kill you
If you pretend it's real
You kill a lot of enemies
But they still live by magic
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Children pretend to be angry
A moment later, peace is restored
The bully bullies little ones to tears
The little ones tell Dad
That this hurt
But Dad doesn't know
The gun isn't real
Dad slaps bully on the head
Enraged, and threatens him
=
Dad takes the wooden gun
And breaks it
Not knowing it was made of wood
But the bully sees it as real
Like very real
And his hands want more
He sees real guns
Like wooden toy guns
The anger you brought
Changed the wooden gun
In his hand
-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: Change. 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/