Two of my students in their
scout outfits stay
cool in the Thai heat as they
proudly clean the local monastery.
Could Robert Baden-Powell possibly
have ever imagined his idea
exported to an arena of
banana fronds and pagodas?
Evenings find them boiling rice
over camp fires.
Mornings find them feeding monks
admiring butterflies.
Could Baden-Powell possibly have imaged
A merit badge for enlightenment?
Burgess Needle is capable of creating a sestina but has yet to learn the vagaries of bridge. He loves The Pogues. Burgess is an Arizona writer whose poetry has (or, will soon) appear in: Blackbox Manifold (UK), Concho River Review, Boston Literary Magazine, Istanbul Literary Review[Turkey], Decanto (UK), Centrifugal Eye, Under the Radar [UK] Kritya (India) and Red Fez. Diminuendo Press published his poetry collection: EVERY CROW IN THE BLUE SKY @ 2009. He taught English for two years in a small Thai village for the Peace Corps, been a co-director of the Southern Arizona Writing Project and co-published and edited Prickly Pear/Tucson [a poetry quarterly] for five years. Although born in Boston, he has lived in Tucson with his wife, Barbara, for a long time.