Polchate Kraprayoon | Biography of Pet Dogs | Poets Resist

Poets Resist
Edited by Michael Carter
August 14, 2019

Polchate Kraprayoon

Biography of Pet Dogs

"We base our conduct on what we find useful," went on Bazarov. "In these days the most useful thing we can do is to repudiate — and so we repudiate." "Everything?" "Everything."

Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons

I. Fathers

My father wrapped me up in amulets and aliments. He let my sinews snap and break apart as I was kneaded rough and left behind so bones could set and settle fate. My father’s fortune-tellers, Chinese docs, and karma harvesters took turns to lay on hands but disbelief turned them away, and I could not hold on, hold fast to faith.

II. Tongdaeng

Our copper girl would always sit below our king. Her docile mother was a stray, she knew her place was by his feet while I had run amok, so full of fault. The other cubs had cried havoc, let loose onto the city streets in ninety-two. Observe Tongdaeng, the way she crouches down meanwhile my hips and knees would not unfurl. Observe the way our generals mimic her shape. Before his feet, their tails are tucked behind, for who could bear the weight of their mistakes? The ties that bind, let’s let them fray.

III. Foo Foo

The princess brought our poodle-marshal back and fed him cake. He vaulted up to lap the glasses of his guests, a mistake in etiquette, so bye to all you foreign diplomats. He and her behind had caught our eye and when he passed, we cried: “Oh what a shame!” Across four days, the monks prepared the rites, the fires burnt his bones, we were afraid. Adorned in alabaster formal dress, the foreheads of our Cabinet just kissed the floor and mocked the arc of history, which cycled back to eighteen fifty-three.

IV. Sons

The theatres repeat the song, demand that we all stand to hear, “Kha Wora Phut- -tha Chao...” blare out. I look around the hall to find if anything had changed at all. I rummage through my father’s shelves for books to read, but then I find a sign of wandering eyes and common smut, I’ll try denying what I saw but something’s lost, the thought is gone that fathers do know best.

In February 2015, Air Chief Marshal Foo Foo, the pet poodle of Thailand’s current King, was cremated after four days of full Buddhist funeral rites. In December 2015, Thanakorn Siripaiboon, 27, was arrested for allegedly making a satirical Facebook post about the late King Bhumibol and his dog, Tongdaeng. The dog passed away just a few days after the arrest.