VESSEL: A space for art, poetry, and awareness at Earth House Bangkok

By Ayush Madan

Sunday, December 7, 2025

PROLOGUE

I started my day with momentum that morning. I went to teach music as I often do on the weekend, this time finding a blissful pleasure in the power of the acoustic guitar. I had spent Friday and Saturday traveling in Erawan Falls, soaking in the greenery, cool temperatures, and blue waters she had to offer. My mind felt replenished. I arrived to the Earth House at about 3 PM, just in time for the second event of the day.

THE EVENT

I was invited to Vessel by my friend Amora Pasricha, a breath work facilitator, poet, and writer, who regularly leads meditation retreats in Nepal. This event was hosted by her, as a he(art) market featuring healthy snacks, tarot reading, body care, oracle cards, sacred jewelry, and ceremonial cacao. The schedule of events featured a Poetry Workshop led by Gabi (@gabriela.moriarty), followed by a deeply personal talk by Preeti (@project.moksha) about her mental health.

Preeti during her talk about her journey with mental illness.

Specifically, she touched on her experience being diagnosed with and living with schizophrenia for years. She began by asking everyone in the room to raise their hand. Then she asked us to all put our hands down if we had ever felt rejected. All of the hands in the room went down. Later, when she started talking about her darkest days, she asked us all again to raise our hands. Then she asked who among us had ever contemplated giving up on life itself. Most of the hands in the garden went down. At every step of her journey, Preeti made it effortless for us to understand her own mind, making it personal to every person who was listening. 

It made me understand that schizophrenia is not something you need to be afraid of. My interpretation of it now is that it is something like being possessed. We all have negative beliefs in our head that are not true. Now, what if you had no way of telling if these voices were real? If they were to be trusted? What if these episodes of varying lengths made you question your reality? I had never sat with these thoughts before and it left me feeling emotional and vulnerable.

Following Preeti’s talk, Pablo from the Bangkok poetry collective Lyrical Lunacy led an open mic session. I loved the way he had his son in one arm as he scratched the DJ deck with the other. His rhymes were diabolical, and his free styling ability is genuinely some of the best I’ve seen. I especially love an anecdote he shared about Homer — a bard and poet from the 8th century — and how his recited stories became the earliest recorded works of literature. Pablo hammered home on the fact that Homer did not write down  any of his stories. He simply spoke them. Late, people wrote down what he spoke into words. To be a poet, to speak to the masses, is the oldest form of gathering and one of the oldest forms of art. Before even writing existed, humans simply spoke to one another. I found this story to be a highlight of the night. 

After laying down some bars on the mic, Pablo went back to the DJ deck to create a musical runway for the other poets. There was Elysian AKA Patricia. As my friend Nishant says, “She is always dressed like an 1800s witch. The only question is… is she a good witch or a bad witch?”, followed by his signature silly chuckle. This time she was wearing a black leather dress with a corset, adorned with a large silver pentagram necklace. Couple this with her ad-libbed, off the cuff, and carefree delivery, and it becomes an act to behold. 

Following Patricia were many more talented poets and storytellers. I especially think of Gabi and her poem about love. She put so much of herself into that poem, and every word she lingered on further increased its emotional impact. I think of the woman who’s name I do not remember.

Rubynna (@rubynnastory) an artist who makes up cycled handcrafted jewelery and art.

She was wearing a headscarf and beautiful cloth earrings. She said, “A dog is a fool who barks at the flying bird. For that flying bird is already gone. That bird is time.” Why should any of us spend our time barking, worrying, wondering about the past, when the present is flying right by us. She then shared some thoughts about wisdom, and the difference between being smart and being wise. We all think we are wise in our adolescence and young adulthood. But it takes time to have wisdom. To step away from yourself and life and really think about it from a different perspective.

Gabi’s table with ceremonial cacao and personalized letters.

Finally, it was time for Amora’s book launch. This was a book about the 30 lessons she had learned in 30 years of life. She presented a documentary showing the unique way the book is handcrafted in Bhaktapur, Nepal. First, the bark is boiled for four hours. Next, the boiled bark is hand beaten, then cut with a paper guillotine. Finally the paper is pressed and each page is carefully sewn together by hand. 

After the documentary, the crowd shouted out numbers and Amora would tell us the lesson that corresponded to that number. Ones I remember clearly are to make life your lover, and not to wait for it at the departure gate. You must live, because living is the most courageous thing you can do. Run up and greet life with open arms. It is the greatest thing there is and the greatest thing to happen to you.

Most memorable of all was the finale: the interactive exercises. I walked in on everyone playing a game. Amora asked me to join in. We were all asked to walk around in a circle and say hello to everyone in the room with only our eyes. We did a few rotations, once clockwise, once anti-clockwise. Then Amora asked us to stop. She asked us to look at the person closest to us and lock our eyes. Then we were to have a conversation only with our eyes. She would say, “look into this other person, and realize they are not so different from you.” It was a spiritual experience unlike anything I had felt before. To look into a stranger’s eyes and see myself reflected back in them. We held each other and asked, “Who are you?”, while the other person said, “Who else?”.

Amora’s book

Spoken word is the oldest form of art, and as someone living in 2025 in Bangkok City, I am so grateful I got to reconnect with poetry and its beautiful community. We ended the night circling a tree, each of us with our arms around one another, swaying from left to right in a 20 person long wave. It was a feeling of togetherness and homecoming I will always cherish.

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Vessel is a community gathering at Earth House Bangkok (Sukhumvit 53), combining a poetry workshop, open mic night, and shared moments of presence. This article documents the atmosphere, voices, and quiet connections formed during the evening.

Earth House Bangkok

112/2 Sukhumvit 53 Alley, Khlong Tan Nuea, 

Watthana, Bangkok 10110

064 473 7188