One of the advantages of living in the Middle East (among the many disadvantages) is the close proximity to other parts of the world. One of the advantages of being a university professor (in addition to being a writer, author, and poet) is that we have these academic holidays just like the students that come in summer, fall, winter, and spring break. The winter break is now upon us after countless hours of eye-blurring corrections and grading of student writing (they can't write). It's my job to give them the basic writing skills of good sentence structure, good organization, together with interesting and imaginative ideas that make up a decent piece of writing.
I will be heading off to the United Arab Emirates for a week and hope to visit Dubai, Abu Dhabi and al-Ain, which is the university town outside of Abu Dhabi, a very scenic area (if you like the desert) that in winter has temperatures that feel like Arizona in October. Not complaining about that. Then I am flying over to Bangkok, a relatively short, six hour flight to the Far East where I will be visiting with a few friends who have retired up in Chiang Mai, which is Thailand's second largest city. It is a beautiful, walled town with a moat around it, boasts of great second hand bookshops where I can stock up on books, and an Italian restaurant that serves home-made pasta and is famous in the area.
After having posted nearly a poem a day for the last few months, I may be offline for a while during my travels; but if the Muse continues to bless me and the spirit arises, I may post a few more poems along the way.
