Our Fall Drive

 

I'm excited to announce the Fall donation drive for a struggling poet that you have known for many years.  Tim Torkildson. 

This is a great opportunity for you to personally support an artist who has struggled in anonymity to revive the craft of satirical and domestic verse.

He recently completed a long verse poem about The Boston Molasses Flood, and is currently working on an even longer rhyming version of Rapunzel.  One of his poems is due to be published as a Letter to the Editor in the New York Times within a week.

I understand that he has been reduced to selling off the last of his book collection and has emptied his savings account.  He has already spent every baht of a salary advance he received two months ago.

He is without grocery money for the next 3 weeks.

If you are wondering why he has not been saving & storing for a rainy day, please remember that it has been the monsoon season in Thailand for the past 3 months, so every day has been a rainy day.

I am asking you to contribute $100.00 towards Mr. Torkildson's upkeep. 

Please ask yourself just one question before you decide:  "Have I ever been made happy or gotten a deeper understanding of human nature from reading one of his poems?"

 Here is what your $100.00 will buy Mr. Torkildson in Thailand:

·  4 sacks of rice

·  2 quarts of cooking oil

·  6 gallons of bottled drinking water

·  3 dozen eggs

·  7 dried mackerel

·  A peck of Thai chilies

·  A small box of chicken broth cubes

·  3 pounds of Vietnamese pork sausage

·  2 cartons of coconut milk (for curry)

·  1 crock of fermented radishes & carrots

·  1 crock of salted bamboo shoots

·  1 refill of the LP gas tank, which is used for cooking all meals

·  And, lots of fresh tropical fruit

I can assure you that not a cent of your donation will go to administrative costs or anything else except the above grocery list.

Please remember that this is not a demeaning hand-out; it is your chance to pay tribute to an artist who may never find recognition or remuneration from the commercial world.

Your donation can be made either through a PayPal account – if you have one – or by simply going to your nearest Western Union office (usually your nearest supermarket) and sending the money directly to the Ban Phe, Thailand, post office.  (Personal checks and credit card payments cannot be used in Thailand at this time.)  You can claim your donation as a tax deduction, and if you get caught Mr. Torkildson has promised to come visit you in jail and read you some poems.

Please act now.  An artist and a friend is waiting to be fed.