{"id":22785,"date":"2026-06-10T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=22785"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:44:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:44:01","slug":"rakpabon-%e0%b8%a3%e0%b8%b1%e0%b8%81%e0%b8%a9%e0%b9%8c%e0%b8%9b%e0%b9%88%e0%b8%b2%e0%b8%9a%e0%b8%ad%e0%b8%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/rakpabon-%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A9%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%99\/","title":{"rendered":"Rakpabon (\u0e23\u0e31\u0e01\u0e29\u0e4c\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e19)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-social-links-is-layout-765c4724 wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-facebook  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61556140010887\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12c0 5 3.7 9.1 8.4 9.9v-7H7.9V12h2.5V9.8c0-2.5 1.5-3.9 3.8-3.9 1.1 0 2.2.2 2.2.2v2.5h-1.3c-1.2 0-1.6.8-1.6 1.6V12h2.8l-.4 2.9h-2.3v7C18.3 21.1 22 17 22 12c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-instagram  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/boudin_mcneese\/\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12,4.622c2.403,0,2.688,0.009,3.637,0.052c0.877,0.04,1.354,0.187,1.671,0.31c0.42,0.163,0.72,0.358,1.035,0.673 c0.315,0.315,0.51,0.615,0.673,1.035c0.123,0.317,0.27,0.794,0.31,1.671c0.043,0.949,0.052,1.234,0.052,3.637 s-0.009,2.688-0.052,3.637c-0.04,0.877-0.187,1.354-0.31,1.671c-0.163,0.42-0.358,0.72-0.673,1.035 c-0.315,0.315-0.615,0.51-1.035,0.673c-0.317,0.123-0.794,0.27-1.671,0.31c-0.949,0.043-1.233,0.052-3.637,0.052 s-2.688-0.009-3.637-0.052c-0.877-0.04-1.354-0.187-1.671-0.31c-0.42-0.163-0.72-0.358-1.035-0.673 c-0.315-0.315-0.51-0.615-0.673-1.035c-0.123-0.317-0.27-0.794-0.31-1.671C4.631,14.688,4.622,14.403,4.622,12 s0.009-2.688,0.052-3.637c0.04-0.877,0.187-1.354,0.31-1.671c0.163-0.42,0.358-0.72,0.673-1.035 c0.315-0.315,0.615-0.51,1.035-0.673c0.317-0.123,0.794-0.27,1.671-0.31C9.312,4.631,9.597,4.622,12,4.622 M12,3 C9.556,3,9.249,3.01,8.289,3.054C7.331,3.098,6.677,3.25,6.105,3.472C5.513,3.702,5.011,4.01,4.511,4.511 c-0.5,0.5-0.808,1.002-1.038,1.594C3.25,6.677,3.098,7.331,3.054,8.289C3.01,9.249,3,9.556,3,12c0,2.444,0.01,2.751,0.054,3.711 c0.044,0.958,0.196,1.612,0.418,2.185c0.23,0.592,0.538,1.094,1.038,1.594c0.5,0.5,1.002,0.808,1.594,1.038 c0.572,0.222,1.227,0.375,2.185,0.418C9.249,20.99,9.556,21,12,21s2.751-0.01,3.711-0.054c0.958-0.044,1.612-0.196,2.185-0.418 c0.592-0.23,1.094-0.538,1.594-1.038c0.5-0.5,0.808-1.002,1.038-1.594c0.222-0.572,0.375-1.227,0.418-2.185 C20.99,14.751,21,14.444,21,12s-0.01-2.751-0.054-3.711c-0.044-0.958-0.196-1.612-0.418-2.185c-0.23-0.592-0.538-1.094-1.038-1.594 c-0.5-0.5-1.002-0.808-1.594-1.038c-0.572-0.222-1.227-0.375-2.185-0.418C14.751,3.01,14.444,3,12,3L12,3z M12,7.378 c-2.552,0-4.622,2.069-4.622,4.622S9.448,16.622,12,16.622s4.622-2.069,4.622-4.622S14.552,7.378,12,7.378z M12,15 c-1.657,0-3-1.343-3-3s1.343-3,3-3s3,1.343,3,3S13.657,15,12,15z M16.804,6.116c-0.596,0-1.08,0.484-1.08,1.08 s0.484,1.08,1.08,1.08c0.596,0,1.08-0.484,1.08-1.08S17.401,6.116,16.804,6.116z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong>Rakpabon (\u0e23\u0e31\u0e01\u0e29\u0e4c\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e19)<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Ashley Mangtani<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I do not know them, and they do not know me. The men in the brown trucks call me by a name a clerk typed onto a card.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Jeab Rakpabon (<strong>\u0e40\u0e08\u0e35\u0e4a\u0e22\u0e1a \u0e23\u0e31\u0e01\u0e29\u0e4c\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e19)<\/strong> Printed on me like a warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I am the Protector of Pa Bon Forest.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">My mother named me where she squatted in the roots of a Monkey Jack (<strong>\u0e21\u0e30\u0e2b\u0e32\u0e14<\/strong>) tree that drank from the river below, hooked her fingers behind my crowning skull, and pulled me out of her body onto a bed of leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The canopy ate my cry and sealed our bond. My mother bit through the cord with her teeth, and I have been on this earth (<strong>\u0e41\u0e1c\u0e48\u0e19\u0e14\u0e34\u0e19<\/strong>) ever since.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">That is the only deed this land ever gave me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then they drew their lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The state gave the forest a new name:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\">\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500 \u2756 \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\"><strong>THALE BAN NATIONAL PARK (\u0e2d\u0e38\u0e17\u0e22\u0e32\u0e19\u0e41\u0e2b\u0e48\u0e07\u0e0a\u0e32\u0e15\u0e34\u0e17\u0e30\u0e40\u0e25\u0e1a\u0e31\u0e19)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\">\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500 \u2756 \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A Protected Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Protected from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The Monkey Jack became state property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The river became a border, and I became a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Eleven women before me. Each took her name from the tree that bore her mother&#8217;s weight. The forest knew them all before the state thought to claim it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A man with dry boots explained our new rights.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cTwenty years\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Twenty years to live on land we have lived on for one thousand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He smiled and told us we were stateless.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To remain is to ask the Forestry Department for water, for light, for the breath (<strong>\u0e25\u0e21\u0e2b\u0e32\u0e22\u0e43\u0e08<\/strong>) we were born with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Last winter, my husband buried his blowpipe (<strong>\u0e1b\u0e37\u0e19\u0e40\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32<\/strong>) beneath a stone. He had used it twice in our marriage. Once for a small bird. Once, for a squirrel he shot for our daughter the night she could not sleep from hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">They made him a poacher. Officials lower their eyes to the papers when they say it. They know we take nothing the forest cannot give. The law, they say, applies equally.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">It does not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Not one of them has counted the days between meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The plantations creep higher every year. The loggers arrive at dawn, the tourists at noon, and we must produce documentation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">My eldest signs his name in Thai script now.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <em>Yaaw<\/em> <strong>~~\u0e22\u0e32\u0e27~~<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">My youngest will not learn which leaves silver before rain, or which roots break fever. She will learn the word for clinic (<strong>\u0e2d\u0e19\u0e32\u0e21\u0e31\u0e22)<\/strong> instead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A child should not die for the principle of a forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">At school, they ask her to draw her home, and she draws a square with a triangle on top. She has never lived in such a shape. She has lived in a lean-to (<strong>\u0e40\u0e1e\u0e34\u0e07<\/strong>) beside the rubber trees of a&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">man who pities us, and before that, in the deep cool of the canopy where the light pools green.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She draws the square because the schoolbook has taught her that this is what a home is. This is the part they do not photograph.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Soft erasure (<strong>\u0e25\u0e1a<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Everything I know, I learned here, illegally. The river&#8217;s voice before a flood. Which bark the bees favour. Which way the ground runs to water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Sixty-three years of criminal knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I am the protector of Pa Bon Forest and a trespasser (<strong>\u0e1c\u0e39\u0e49\u0e1a\u0e38\u0e01\u0e23\u0e38\u0e01<\/strong>) in the same breath. That I cannot understand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Last week, a young officer pressed an application form into my hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To live here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I spoke my true name.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The one the tree consecrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He did not listen. He pushed a ballpoint pen into my palm and told me to keep my mark inside the white box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter is-style-regular has-medium-font-size\"><table><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><em>\u0e23\u0e31\u0e01\u0e29\u0e4c\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e19<\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I do not know him. He does not know me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This forest (<strong>\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e02\u0e2d\u0e07\u0e40\u0e23\u0e32)<\/strong> knows us both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">And it will forget him first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ashley Mangtani is a UK writer whose work explores ecological and social collapse, and the roles people inhabit in moments of crisis. Drawing on an M.Sc. in Environmental Science and a background as a civil servant in digital media policy, he crafts stories shaped by inevitability and loss. Blending literary realism with slipstream elements, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in <em>Litro<\/em>, <em>Washington Square Review<\/em>, <em>Literary Garage<\/em>, <em>Half Day Moon Press<\/em>, <em>CommuterLit<\/em>, <em>Mercurius Magazine<\/em>, <em>Mobius: The Journal of Social Change<\/em>, <em>Expat Press<\/em>, and <em>Empyrean Magazine<\/em>. Read more at <a href=\"http:\/\/ashleymangtanifiction.carrd.co\/\">ashleymangtanifiction.carrd.co<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"438\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">&lt;&lt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/waving-not-drowning\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/waving-not-drowning\/\">Back<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/invisible-countries-late-nights\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/invisible-countries-late-nights\/\">Next<\/a> &gt;&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To learn more about submitting your work to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/boudin-submissions\/\">Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University&#8217;s Creative Writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/mfa-application-submissions\/\">MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rakpabon (\u0e23\u0e31\u0e01\u0e29\u0e4c\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e19) Ashley Mangtani __________ I do not know them, and they do not know me. The men in the brown trucks call me by a name a clerk typed onto a card.&nbsp; Jeab Rakpabon (\u0e40\u0e08\u0e35\u0e4a\u0e22\u0e1a \u0e23\u0e31\u0e01\u0e29\u0e4c\u0e1b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e19) Printed on me like a warning. I am the Protector of Pa Bon Forest.&nbsp; My mother named me&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[75,146,100,26],"class_list":["post-22785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pride-june-26","tag-boudin","tag-fiction-2","tag-flashfiction","tag-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22785"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23050,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22785\/revisions\/23050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}