Sleight by Noh Anothai
How to tell apart truth, exaggeration, and outright deception? Or ritual, religion, and superstition?
First published in Asymptote in April 2017. The original Thai poem กล is from มือนั้นสีขาว, or That Hand is White (1992), by Saksiri Meesomsueb.
From the translator:
“How do we distinguish, the poem asks, between truth, exaggeration, and outright deception; ritual, religion, and superstition; an otherworldly feat and a parlor trick? A charlatan posing on his sickbed and a falsely accused sage?”
I first read and translated “Sleight” in 2016 while in Thailand raged a religious scandal and in the US loomed the specter of a Trump presidency. Now, six years later, its themes still seem relevant. You can read the accompanying introduction to this translation here.
Read “Sleight” here.
Noh Anothai’s translations range from classical Siamese poetry to contemporary Thai essays and fiction. He has given talks at the Siam Society and the Center for Translation at Chulalongkorn University, both in Bangkok, and taught creative writing in Chiangrai, Thailand. He is a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature, Track for International Writers, at Washington University in St. Louis.
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