The Boys on Thanon Lim Khong

armed with their hideouts & slingshots
& smiles they gather at nightfall beside
a rocky river road to compete in monied
contests dodge tuk-tuks & flurries of
laughter now pulling the notes from their
pockets & placing them on the road’s river
brown & then throwing their thongs from
line-marks towards jackpots of fluttering
notes /see the worn old thongs skim! &
the bigger boys win but the stream of lao
notes stutters onwards it’s 8 in the pm &
time to go home now everybody’s happy
& one lucky boy’s an instant millionaire …