POETRY

Between before and the forever after

before the birth of the first vowel (poems in times of Covid)

photos by Kevia Tan, Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore 2022

just ice is cast. or not. or doubt. but when
we are left to ourselves we will prevail
and organize like the grass on the bank
of that little mountain stream that seeps

from under the withering three-layered sheets
in the mother mask of a white-burdened glacier.
some do. some don’t. some say. some won’t.
but when the morning dew ripens on the fronds

of the ferns in the undergrowth of my botanical
garden, I cannot but grasp. I reach out. I cling.
and leave no time to hear the mockingbird sing

at every new outburst with gruesome pandemical
laughter. a thaw has emerged from the freeze. I sneeze.
and in zazen sink down in the now twixt before

and the forever after.

see more of my poetry on Medium here