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I look at the ocean like it’s goodbye. Somewhere, it is touching a land laying prey to fire. My grieving mother brings the forest inside, a green excess. When she repots the trees, it is not unlike changing diapers. But she no longer tends to the small abject frames of the dying. These days, everything feels like the end. A few days ago, a typhoon shaved glass off buildings. A woman in her sixties bled to death after it cut the window into her arm. The name of the wind, Maysak, means teak tree in Khmer, I learn. The timber retains its aromatic fragrance to a great age, I learn. I am always learning. What is it that I want to know? There is nowhere in this world that I want to live. I look at your face like it’s goodbye. There is nowhere to go. I shut my window because what else can I do. Tomorrow’s typhoon is called Hǎishén, meaning sea god in Mandarin. I confess I want to live. Nowhere, but still, with great desperation, I want. What is it that you want? Tell me, is your face the same as mine? Tell me, do we see the same things? Tell me we are the same eyes Burning through the night.
First published in ONLY POEMS (October, 2024)
Very powerful! This poem is an elegy! Thank you for writing it! 😊👏🙏💝
i love this poet’s work, really moves me. Her new book is amazing, “Find me as the Creature I Am,” as was the reading event she did for ONLY POEMS. Highly recommend experiencing both.