In quiet reflection

grows the white lotus

Unfolding within and without

on Nam Ou River

Blossoming into perfection

Surface stilled

Motionless

Ceasing to flow away

in radiant expectation

Shimmering

Dazzling petals

amongst the creative cosmos

Earnestly waiting

for the enlightenment of 

a thoughtful divine breath

Kaysone Syonesa, is a Lao American theatre artist and playwright with a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota. She has a theatre background as a performing artist/actor, director, set/costume designer and playwright. She has performed with various theatre companies in the Twin Cities with recent productions from Pangea World Theater, Teatro del Pueblo and Green T Productions. She has also directed and devised original theatre work called Sticky Rice Drama with artists and youth of color as a platform to uplift diverse and underrepresented voices in the Twin Cities. Kaysone has strengths in bringing communities together to create space and devise work to uncover and imaginatively tell stories that reflect the human experiences. In the past she was inspired to raise the artistic voices of women of color and created Moonlight Collective with three theatre artists who were Latina American and African American. Together they wrote, designed, directed and produced a play called Many Routes, about three different women’s stories integrating spoken word, dance and storytelling. She has also worked with and trained Laotian and Hmong youth to become theatre storytellers through playwriting and performance art.