Welcome to Ghost Town
There was a town that was once a beautiful and bountiful seascape. People made pilgrimages to
the town to mingle and marvel with the local painters, performers, and writers. That was until the
goblins infested the town. The goblins gorged on the townspeople’s happiness and turned the
town topsy-turvy. The townspeople turned into ghosts. Once the goblins became bored, they left
town lickety-split. For a while, the townspeople-turned-ghosts wandered and wailed. But they
transformed their town into an arts and literary ghost town. People from all over the world come
to visit these renowned artistic ghosts. The town even regularly puts on a play about the town’s
win against those grubby goblins. Their play is called “Welcome to Ghost Town.” The town’s
story of survival has spread far and wide.
The Trunk with Dreams
In a century-old citadel, a trunk was filled with dreams. The trunk longed to live in a humble
home in the desert and to be a poet. It imagined putting poetry to paper and letting the breeze
carry its words to distant lands. It wanted to run with the roadrunners and converse with the
crows. It wanted to read books while cavorting with cats. In the citadel, the trunk lived a
lackluster life among others who prodded her to live a practical life. The other trunks warned that
dreams are dangerous because they could turn into nightmares. One morning, the trunk filled
with dreams woke up and discovered that its dreams sprouted into plans. They were growing
wonderfully by the second. With no hesitation, the trunk left the citadel, carefully caravanning its
dreams-now-turning-into-plans. The trunk couldn’t wait to dwell in the desert. The trunk
couldn’t wait to be forever free.
About the Author
Tanya Sangpun Thamkruphat is a Thai-Vietnamese American poet and essayist. She is the author of the poetry chapbooks, Em(body)ment of Wonder (Raine Publishing, 2021) and It Wasn’t a Dream (Fahmidan Publishing & Co., 2022). Her writing appears in The Orange County Register, OC Weekly, Bangkok Post, Button Poetry, Brazos River Review, Honey Literary, and elsewhere. Currently, she lives with her two feline overlords and partner in Southern California. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @madamewritelyso.
