PERFORATION

I watch a flickering screen

On a black and white television,

Where the channel features

Only repeat programs

That are scratchy re-runs

Of malignant memories,

Somehow rearranged

On a zany timeline

As flashes of inconsequence

And ferocious fabricators

Of everlasting shame

And ruinous guilt.

Even the ordinary tilt

Of everyday life

Comes tainted in weird ways

By stains invariably ascribed

To well-intentioned actions

Or innocent negligence,

Bringing an unceasing sense

Of culpability for hurts inflicted,

And ripping open a scar

Of forlorn humiliation.

At the end there is anxiety.

It is time to panic

When I realise that all I am

Is a victim of a theft

Of pride in endeavours.

AND THE PIPER PLAYED THE TUNE

‘And the Piper Played the Tune’ can be purchased at Amazon, Kindle, iBooks, Smashwords, Booktopia, Fishpond and a range of other online retailers.  Paperback and eBook versions are available.

Two exiled princes, one a gifted musician and the other an invincible warrior, leave their hard-hearted father’s prosperous realm and travel to a world of wonder outside the conventional boundaries of time and place.  They encounter hermits with magical powers, a capricious sea ogress, an alluring mermaid, patriotic princesses, wily astrologers, scheming courtiers, brutal pirates, and remarkable animals.  Both princes are eventually presented with opportunities to become rulers of foreign lands threatened with invasion by warlike neighbouring principalities.

The central storyline of ‘And the Piper Played the Tune’ is not a new one.  It follows closely many aspects of Sunthorn Phu’s epic poem about the exploits of Phra Aphai Mani – a masterpiece that occupies a prominent place in the pantheon of Thai literature.  Sunthorn Phu’s poem blends realistic incidents and events driven by unnatural forces, frequently in the context of hazardous sea voyages.  Accordingly, the saga of Phra Aphai Mani has often been compared to Homer’s Odyssey.  ‘And the Piper Played the Tune’ is David Morisset’s respectful attempt to make Sunthorn Phu’s epic more widely known among English-speaking readers.