Poets Wear Prada: Chansak Suwanchaichinda

Submission Policy

Submissions to THE BUG BOOK are now closed. However, we will continue to post a sampling of poems accepted for the anthology as we continue to work our way through the flood of last minute submissions.

Poetry (any form or style) and Micro or Flash Fictions wanted for an anthology on SMOKE. Not just the black clouds rising from the five-alarm fire next door, or the billowing plumes of smoke warning us of a forest fire, or the emissions from factory smoke stacks, apartment house incinerators, and crematoriums, smoke rings rise from cigarettes, smoke pours out of headshops, pipe shops & cigar stores--see that purple haze rising over the fields of poppies and marijuana we just planted--we've used it to communicate via smoke signals and skywriting, to cover our tracks and disappear with and without mirrors, combat the enemy on and off the battlefield, kill bugs, flavor food, cure illness, declare peace treaties, and fragrance our homes. Got the idea? Release it onto the page.

Guidelines: Submit up to three poems/micro fictions or two flash fictions at a time with a fascinating bio of 35 words or less, not just limited to publication credits, copy/pasted in the body of an e-mail (no attachments, please) to roxy533 at yahoo dot com & violetwrites at nyc dot rr dot com. We will also entertain up to six one-liners or 2 short stand up routines at time. Previously published work is OK as long as authors have retained the copyright, which will be returned to them after publication. Simultaneous submissions are encouraged. If your work is accepted elsewhere, and you still have obtained rights to republish, just let us know where and we'll be happy to acknowledge the other publication.

If you do not receive a response from us within a month of your submission considered it rejected and feel free to submit again. Due to the volume of submissions we cannot respond to each and every individual submission. Selection for the on-line edition are made on a ongoing basis as we receive your submissions. However, final selections for the print edition will made after the October 31st deadline. (In otherwords not everything that made the cut for the online edition will appear in print.) Please do not query. When in doubt, send the submission to roxy533 at yahoo dot com & violetwrites at nyc dot rr dot com.

Visit the online edition of SMOKE at:
http://thesmokingbook.blogspot.com/.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Chansak Suwanchaichinda | Man Malaria Mosquito

Man Malaria Mosquito

Sub-Saharan Africa
a remote village
a hut rested on the earthen ground
walled with pieces of wood
a roof of leaves

A new dawn
beams of sunshine sneak through
greeting a young child
safe in mother’s arms
befriended the birds
singing happy tune
tall trees waving joyfully

Yet a darkest night
orchestrated with sounds
of creatures from the forest,
a two-winged insect,
mosquito,
uninvited to the hut
like a thief
robbing nothing but blood
from the unfortunate child
releasing malaria parasites
while engorging the red fluid

Fever and chill
the young soul weakened
like the moon being consumed
by the dark cloud
trees stop dancing
birds disappear
the world becomes quiet
the last star light
no more power to hold on
fading slowly
and perish

by Chansak Suwanchaichinda

After receiving a PhD degree from Rutgers University, Chansak Suwanchaichinda worked as a medical entomologist at the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health of Thailand. He is currently Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences and Public Health at the State University of New York - Empire State College, NY. And confesses to participating in poem composition competitions during his high school years.