earth note 443

from a distance

koh samui rose

from the ocean

the hills standing

against the sun

laying bare the idea

that you need

a certain status

from birth

to be rewarded

with wonder

long before the year

of the tsunami

and a hundred miles

thru the rainforest

i replaced my flip-flops

falling apart

in the marketplace

in phuket

next to the stall

with shiny red stones

my thai was so broken

but understood

as the woman vendor

explained that the stones

were smuggled from burma

in spite of the prisons

     the red color coming

     from the sunsets

and that it was necessary

to keep this secret

from the authorities

i still look into the horizon

for rubies

--- e b bortz