Loi Krathong
David Russomano
Place your sins inside a lotus flower, dress it
in your guilt and send it down the river
with a few coins for good measure,
a sacrifice severing you from a year of mistakes
you'd just as soon forget. But in Bangkok,
the procedure loses something of its
grace—the flower made of Styrofoam and
banana leaves intricately folded. Gnarled hands
crown the blossom-shaped bundles with candles
or sparklers flickering together
in the filthy Chao Phraya
where the desperate and clever dive in,
swimming through everything you couldn't
bear to keep, just to gather fistfuls
of all you could afford to discard.
About the Author
David Russomano spent his formative years staring out over the waters of Long Island Sound as he pondered the world beyond the constraints of his home town. Since then, his wanderlust has driven him to various corners of Europe, Asia, and the Americas as a student, teacher, and poet. His poetry has been featured in Write from Wrong, This Great Society, Red Booth Review, Phantom Kangaroo, REDzine, Thoughtsmith, Lowestoft Chronicle and Pure Francis. It is also scheduled to appear in forthcoming issues of The Writing Disorder and Poetry for the Masses. You can find him in the Poets & Writers database of poets. He currently lives in Turkey.