Wooden fishing boat floating next to the closed gate of the Pak Mun Dam.

Crystal clear

Clean and Blue

The envy of Isaan

Mae Nam Mun

Stagnant and brown

One quarter of the fish

The pity of Isaan

Mae Nam Mun

Voiceless

Thoughts and ideas

Yet no one will listen

The people of Mae Nam Mun

Powerful and money-hungry

With no heart for the ruined lives

of the people left in their wake

The raht-ah-baan (state)

They sit on blue plastic

appealing to us, students

Because they are out of options

The people of Mae Nam Mun

by Kathryn VanderWindt (ISDSI, Spring 2009)