Poems

No Gifts from War

Notes

Nongbualamphu – a province in north-eastern Thailand (site of the rubber plantation)

Bannang Sata – a district in Yala province in southern Thailand (where the father was murdered)

Budo – a mountain range in southern Thailand

Phupaankam – a mountain range/national park in Nongbualamphu province

This poem was inspired by the murder of the respected Colonel Sompian Eksomya by a roadside bomb in Bannang Sata, a district in Yala province, in March 2010. The insurgents first disabled Sompian's vehicle with a bomb and then fired at the vehicle, killing the colonel and his driver and injuring two other police officers. Aged 60 at the time of his death, the powerful reaction in Thailand to his murder was intensified by his age and long service: many people felt he should have been allowed to retire to his rubber plantation, founded with his son, years earlier.

Thailand has been plagued by conflict and insurgency for many years provoked by ongoing border disputes with Cambodia, conflict between different ethnic groups and a coup d'etat that took place in 2006.

Tracey Martin, Literal Translator

Note on the original text:

มิถุนายน – กรกฏาคม 2553
บันดาลใจจากเรื่องราวของชุมพล เอกสมญา และพลตำรวจเอกสมเพียร เอกสมญา

Angkarn Chanthathip, Poet