Three Female Ghosts of Thailand
#1
‘Krasue’
A woman’s head with viscera hanging down from her neck.

‘Where will you be tonight when the moon is shut?
Woman hater, where will you be
when the womb of your soul is shut tight?’
Krasue will chant these lines over your sleeping body.
You will be inseminated at that moment,
but that incubus will be without sex,
its arms and legs will be writhing snakes.
Krasue will keep you pregnant
until your male belly burst.
Then she will come out of you,
and the moon will open and shine again,
but not for you.

~~~~~~~~

‘Mae Nak’
A female ghost who died at childbirth and can extend her arms.

Mae Nak loves you.
She wants to carry you in her limbs
to the birthing couch. There she will
extend her arms to the dawn.
Mae Nak loves you,
but you are a ghost to her,
she sees only an endless umbilical cord.
She believes you dangle at the end of it.
She believes that one morning
she will hear you mewing like a kitten
at her door.
Until then she extends her arms
like a starfish at a watery reflection
of the morning star.

~~~~~~~~

'Nang Mai'
Lady of the Woods’, ghost-fairy related to trees.

Texture and grain are her domain,
but she will appear
if you are near her spider woven eyes.
She harms none,
but she can break the ties to yourself,
break the lies you tell yourself.
She can make you see the mask,
then she will send you home
weeping.

~~~~~~~~~
Reply
#2
"Three Female Ghosts of Thailand" is quite interesting to read because it is composed of three parts. I'm completely unfamiliar with these three spirits of Thailand folklore, resulting in me conducting brief research. As an outsider, I enjoyed that this is a short summary of the ghosts which lead me to look into the legends more. Some readers may think differently, however I feel anyone can enjoy this piece because the content is universal and graphic in detail, so an outsider like me can grasp the main idea of each spirit. 

I noticed that this piece makes use of the conditional "will" heavily, which works. From what I've gathered from your writing here and my small research, each of the three spirits act only from the actions of living and using "will" over and over as a conditional tense for the spirits hits this notion hard.

On a final note, the italicized font is interesting but I don't know if it's a stylistic choice with an inherent meaning or just style of font you preferably used. 
(12-10-2016, 04:58 AM)Sparkydashforth Wrote:  ‘Krasue’
A woman’s head with viscera hanging down from her neck. These one line descriptions of each spirit help an outside reader imagine them

‘Where will you be tonight when the moon is shut?
Woman hater, where will you be
when the womb of your soul is shut tight?’
Krasue will chant these lines over your sleeping body.
You will be inseminated at that moment,
but that incubus will be without sex,
its arms and legs will be writhing snakes.
Krasue will keep you pregnant
until your male belly burst. (bursts)
Then she will come out of you,
and the moon will open and shine again,
but not for you.

~~~~~~~~

‘Mae Nak’
A female ghost who died at childbirth and can extend her arms.

Mae Nak loves you.
She wants to carry you in her limbs
to the birthing couch. There she will
extend her arms to the dawn.
Mae Nak loves you,
but you are a ghost to her,
she sees only an endless umbilical cord.
She believes you dangle at the end of it.
She believes that one morning
she will hear you mewing like a kitten
at her door. slant rhyme (door - cord) works well sonically
Until then she extends her arms
like a starfish at a watery reflection
of the morning star.

~~~~~~~~

'Nang Mai'
Lady of the Woods’, ghost-fairy related to trees. The various hard rhymes (grain - domain; appear - near; ties - lies) in this section don't work well for me since the first two sections don't rhyme. However, there may be a reason for the rhyming here that I'm just missing.

Texture and grain are her domain,
but she will appear
if you are near her spider woven eyes.
She harms none,
but she can break the ties to yourself,
break the lies you tell yourself.
She can make you see the mask,
then she will send you home
weeping.

~~~~~~~~~
Reply
#3
This was posted at the same time as a few other poems. 
One of the most interesting pieces I've read in a while.

(12-10-2016, 04:58 AM)Sparkydashforth Wrote:  ‘Krasue’
A woman’s head with viscera hanging down from her neck.

‘Where will you be tonight when the moon is shut?
Woman hater, where will you be
when the womb of your soul is shut tight?’  ....'woman  hater / womb of your soul'  works well. I like the irregular but smooth pattern of 11, 8, 9 syllables. I don't need to analyse the stress patterns because they sound right in my head.
Krasue will chant these lines over your sleeping body.
You will be inseminated at that moment, .....isn't insemination the entering of sperm? I suppose you meant 'engorged with semen'
but that incubus will be without sex,
its arms and legs will be writhing snakes. [i]....second 'will be' - perhaps 'like' instead?[/i]
Krasue will keep you pregnant
until your male belly burst.
Then she will come out of you,
and the moon will open and shine again, [i]....this is a particularly fetching line[/i]
but not for you.

~~~~~~~~

‘Mae Nak’
A female ghost who died at childbirth and can extend her arms.

Mae Nak loves you. [i]...I like the simple opening line[/i]
She wants to carry you in her limbs
to the birthing couch. There she will
extend her arms to the dawn. [i]...nice. I like 'birthing couch' [/i]
Mae Nak loves you,
but you are a ghost to her,
she sees only an endless umbilical cord. [i]...beautiful[/i]
She believes you dangle at the end of it.
She believes that one morning
she will hear you mewing like a kitten
at her door.
Until then she extends her arms
like a starfish at a watery reflection
of the morning star. [i]... I have nothing to offer here. This  mini-poem reads quite perfect to me[/i]

~~~~~~~~

'Nang Mai'
Lady of the Woods’, ghost-fairy related to trees.

Texture and grain are her domain,
but she will appear
if you are near her spider woven eyes.
She harms none,
but she can break the ties to yourself, 
break the lies you tell yourself. [i][i]...a bit long. Perhaps just 'the lies you tell yourself'?[/i][/i]
She can make you see the mask, 
then she will send you home
weeping[i]...it's all a bit vague, this last poem. Not as vivid as the first nor as beautiful as the second. The weak one in the flock.[/i]

~~~~~~~~~
~ I think I just quoted myself - Achebe
Reply
#4
The poem is interesting and certainly unique. My one suggestion is to try to include the country/region of origin in these 3 stanzas to help develop the setting. Ghosts have temporal settings too. I think developing a setting would add an extra layer to your poem.
Reply




Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!