The Call to Play

It is evening, but the day has just begun for the whimsical warriors. They have come from
everywhere, with an innate obedience to the call to play. They arrive with an arsenal of fun and
excitement in their eyes. Ropes whip through the air. Rhythmic stomping shakes the ground.
Feet skid and shuffle. The jovial battle cries seep well into the late evening. And, when the
evening slips into night, the warriors bow and bid their farewells. They peel away to their
dwellings to fill their hungry sleep with dreams of their next adventure. But like their dreams, the
call to play is short lived. The warriors turn into worriers wondering where and when their
former selves disappeared. No explanatory note was left. So, they wait with their ears pressed to
the window waiting for the call to play.

Author of the article

Tanya Sangpun Thamkruphat is a Thai-Vietnamese American poet and essayist. She’s the author of the poetry chapbooks Em(body)ment of Wonder (Raine Poetry Publishing, 2021 ), It Wasn’t a Dream (Fahmidan Publishing & Co., 2022), and CARE INSTRUCTIONS (Finishing Line Press, 2024). Her writing appears in The Orange County Register, Button Poetry, Brazos River Review, Honey Literary, The Cincinnati Review, West Trestle Review, Inlandia, Full House, Midway Journal, diaCritics, and elsewhere. She has received literary support from Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, VONA, GrubStreet’s BWOC Literary Support, Gasher, and The Highlights Foundation. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @madamewritelyso.