Three Female Ghosts of Thailand

[Achebe]

This was posted at the same time as a few other poems. 
One of the most interesting pieces I've read in a while.

‘Krasue’
A woman’s head with viscera hanging down from her neck.

‘Where will you be tonight when the moon is shut?
Woman hater, where will you be
when the womb of your soul is shut tight?’  ....'woman  hater / womb of your soul'  works well. I like the irregular but smooth pattern of 11, 8, 9 syllables. I don't need to analyse the stress patterns because they sound right in my head.
Krasue will chant these lines over your sleeping body.
You will be inseminated at that moment, .....isn't insemination the entering of sperm? I suppose you meant 'engorged with semen'
but that incubus will be without sex,
its arms and legs will be writhing snakes. [i]....second 'will be' - perhaps 'like' instead?[/i]
Krasue will keep you pregnant
until your male belly burst.
Then she will come out of you,
and the moon will open and shine again, [i]....this is a particularly fetching line[/i]
but not for you.

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‘Mae Nak’
A female ghost who died at childbirth and can extend her arms.

Mae Nak loves you. [i]...I like the simple opening line[/i]
She wants to carry you in her limbs
to the birthing couch. There she will
extend her arms to the dawn. [i]...nice. I like 'birthing couch' [/i]
Mae Nak loves you,
but you are a ghost to her,
she sees only an endless umbilical cord. [i]...beautiful[/i]
She believes you dangle at the end of it.
She believes that one morning
she will hear you mewing like a kitten
at her door.
Until then she extends her arms
like a starfish at a watery reflection
of the morning star. [i]... I have nothing to offer here. This  mini-poem reads quite perfect to me[/i]

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'Nang Mai'
‘Lady of the Woods’, ghost-fairy related to trees.

Texture and grain are her domain,
but she will appear
if you are near her spider woven eyes.
She harms none,
but she can break the ties to yourself, 
break the lies you tell yourself. [i][i]...a bit long. Perhaps just 'the lies you tell yourself'?[/i][/i]
She can make you see the mask, 
then she will send you home
weeping. [i]...it's all a bit vague, this last poem. Not as vivid as the first nor as beautiful as the second. The weak one in the flock.[/i]

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