Tuesday, September 05, 2017

the witch hunt*

you say
there are plenty
plenty for you and me

but i look around
and all i do
is come up empty

you say
there are plenty
plenty of them in the sea

but i gulp down
and all i end up
is thirsty 

you say
there are plenty
plenty more fish in the sea

but i bite down
and all i feel
is hungry

you say
there is nothing
nothing left
to worry

and you're right

cos i look down
and all there is
is water at my feet




* This image is a digital map of ocean traffic, mined from 18th- and 19th-century ship's logs.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've written (and published) anything on this blog (over 4 years, not including "the morning moon"). I keep on saying this, but hopefully this is the start of another wind of creative writing. I think part of my recent struggle is that I don't want to write anything too depressing. And yet, my most creative juices seem to come out when I contemplate utterly morose ideas (like an ocean vacuous of life). I suppose I should just embrace how I'm wired. And just let it out. Honestly, it's probably better than keeping it in. :| 


the morning moon

a slow drum
dripping off the sky
the morning moon burns
after a long night
of prayers

that one day
it will return to the sun





* Photo credit STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images


Saturday, February 02, 2013

second zero

0

the horizon is warm
and it hangs over my chest
the world's weight
wraps over my shoulders
and covers my
breast

more than ever

hands held high
the sky rests against my palms
and the stars drift away
on the black ocean
calm

and
nevertheless

the days run together
a never start
and an ever end
heads and tails
forever and ever
amen

I wish I could see 
what I feel

in the white noise
in the lining of the clouds
you're there

you're there
louder than I can hear
brighter than I can see
and more real
than reality itself

second zero

the world inverts
the moon falls down
and I collapse

across the universe


Saturday, September 22, 2012

stranger's diary


the dinosaurs
chase the clocks
the ticks and tocks
like gears and locks
roar

the stars 
spin on stage
a death rattle cage
dry from bone to 
pore

out of the sea
and onto the shore
you first crawl then
walk into monster
lore

no
all this has happened before
and what you were
is now no
more


Sunday, May 22, 2011

after the end*



















the words form
before a period
at a precipice
the letters tumble
off screen
and evaporate
from memory
wave after wave
the world washes away
into the cache

what comes after


dim your headlights
sun down sky
the clouds are on fire
and autumn amber
rains down
with broken backs
still and cooling
in afterglow
the stars sink
into the sea

what comes after

skip a beat
a false start
a heart stutters
on a bed of diamonds
and falls flat
in the corner
of your eye
crystals form
a line
and the pain fades
into time

what comes after

after the end


.




* Liquids, Gases and Solids by Edward Ruscha. This poem is dedicated to Harold Camping.


Sunday, February 13, 2011

spring sale*






























i smell perfume
flowers in bloom
bouquets and baskets
in hand

it's a spring sale.

i can see jewels
in the air
clouds lined with gold
dipped in blue

so name your price.

the earth is warm
beneath my feet
the roots below
flowing with blood

and i will pay for it.

the skies turn brown
the forests burn down
and the oceans fill with fire
until
even the seas drown

deal.



* The beautiful and haunting painting is from Lisa Kretz.

I'm going to be honest. I've been struggling with my writing for the past year or so. And for a variety of reasons. It's probably mostly because I've had less time to just sit and digest my thoughts and feelings. And when that happens, ideas and concepts don't come as natural as they might otherwise. And when that happens, the things you write begin sounding forced or contrived (because they are).

This piece actually started back in last year, when the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill began and didn't seem like it was ever going to stop. At that time, like most of the people on this planet, I felt completely helpless about how the world was literally going down the drain. And so, out of frustration and anger, I tried to write a piece about it. I managed to write a couple of lines down and tentatively named it, "price of fire". And for almost a year, it sat there in draft form in my blog dashboard thingy.

Recently, I went back to it. And instead of "trying" to make something happen, I just decided to write my thoughts down and be less critical with myself. The strange thing is, when I first wrote "spring sale" down, I wasn't that big of a fan (although that happens much more often than I admit). But unlike my previous attempts, it was at least something I didn't detest.

So hopefully this is a sign of things to come.


Sunday, September 12, 2010

the fall*













does some of it wash away
in the rain
does a part melt
under the heat of the sun
do pieces get blown astray
by the temperament
of the wind

heavy things
dragging heaven's
strings

we slip through teeth
into the darkness
and join
at the centre of the earth

return to me
it cries out
return
and we will be one
once more

the rain comes down
and we pool
together
like

strangers



* Apple Trees (Sketch), by Gerhard Richter.


Sunday, March 21, 2010

human resources*

i should be scared

i should be worried

i should be concerned

that i can't tell the difference

between freedom and

slavery



but i am
















not.






* Photo from squareamerica.com.


Monday, July 06, 2009

only a small death*

you shiver
like the clouds
powder
from your
gasps
weather down
over fists
clenched white
a body curled
into bones
a frenetic corpse
catching its breath

to be
to be
to be





























virgin once more.



* Audrey Hepburn (#1) painted by Dawn Mellor.


Monday, April 20, 2009

war hall*

andy andy
pop like candy
bits and tits
biting fighting
fits






andy andy
charming dandy
spring and sprinkles
rainbow lines in white-out
wrinkles






andy andy
sex on sandy
flames and games
licking spit out of dirty
names






andy andy
it's death and me
and you were right
finally a finale
delight





an extinction night





* The four images is from my crude cropping efforts (and insertion of text) of a painting by AARON, a computer program created in the 1970's by Harold Cohen. AARON is quite an incredible "entity", as it is able to autonomously "learn" from its past painting efforts. As such, over the past 30 or so years of its existence, its paintings have evolved "from something resembling late Paleolithic cave painting to figurative painting: portraits, as it were of 'imagine' people" (source here). Each one of its paintings are original and require no input from anyone. It simply "paints". I know all this because I recently wrote a small paper on AARON for my "Internet and Media Law" course, arguing that it is conceivable that such programs can legally be considered the "author" of these works, and thus "own" the copyright in the paintings. The obvious issue, and ultimate irony underlying this poem, is the inability of such a computer program to sue anyone (like me) for copyright infringement. Anyhoo, you should google image some of AARON's works. Some are quite amazing.


Sunday, November 02, 2008

wereld*

the.future.is.paper.mache. pepper.in.the.sky.sprinkles. of.salt.buy.in.to.sell.out.skip. the.rorschach.no.chance.to. change.your.mind.a.silent. bell.a.secret.to.share.a.lie.to. spread.a.detail.only.the.devil. could.find.a.dance.to.an. unbiblical.tune.a.spin.to.an. umbilical.chord.a.sin.from. the.start.until.the.moon.falls. you.are.in.complete.control. you.are.incomplete.control.




* 4096 Colors painted by Gerhard Richter.


Saturday, October 25, 2008

winter kiss



















winter winter.

sleep is all you want.
in your arms
a wish
as heavy as
the moon.

you're looking up.
she's the only thing
you can see in the dark.
there she is
calling to you.
a siren
perched up on the sky.
you close your eyes
but she pricks at you.
she peeks through
those pinholes
before your eyes.

you lay there
as she penetrates you.
you don't dare move.
you're as still as a hope.
a wish to hide away
and hibernate.

winter winter.
is it time?
is it time to leave
this world?
have you come
to take me away?
to claim me
as one of your
own
?

cos if i fall asleep now
i will never wake.

one kiss
from you
would be all
it would take

for my world
to turn
white.


Thursday, October 09, 2008

vanilla

cupcakes and
sugar shakes
i lick my lips
until they crack
pink

Pay attention, now.
Cos this will cost you.

candles and
baby balloons
i swallow the sea
until i split and
sink

Did you catch that?
You can't miss it.

icing and
finger curls
i close my eyes
until my teeth
wink

Look at that.
You found me.




























(wink)




*
These things freak the hell outta me. My first (and I suppose only) encounter with the anglerfish was at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, where one of their exhibits was showing models of deep sea fish. I remember standing in a room that was coloured in an orangey-red, with ambient water sounds cascading all over me, and a narrator's voice, describing in detail how the anglerfish caught its prey. I think that experience scarred me for life, which has now lead me to write this piece. Pay back time! (I'm not sure what I meant by that.)


Tuesday, September 09, 2008

tinnitus song*

bad dreams
of blind men

in black milk
they do not drown

but grin forth
the abyss














* Photo from the exhibit, It's always six o' clock, by Eva and Franco Mattes.


Friday, August 01, 2008

esque*













it's black tie
when i realize
he hadn't spoken in years
it takes a funeral thirteen
for me to remember
i had forgotten
his voice

monday is always a shock


He shuffles his sight line. A deck of cards. Bored. Eyes darting off to the left. Jerking back to the right. A reckless driver. Eyes off the road. Tempting happenstance. "You're a one trick pony, you know that?" he says.

i can hardly believe
he is gone
when it is so hard
to believe he was
with me all along

you try to deny tuesday


"No, scratch that. You're more like a one track playlist." He pauses in thought. He presses a finger to his lips - to keep the smile from coming out. "Yeah, I like that. Much more contemporary," he quips.

i need help
cos
i'm not sure
how to move on now
when i feel
i already moved on
long before

wednesday, everything is on the table


His fingers drum against the surface. Turbo mode. The sounds of a flat tire slapping the road. His stare is on high beam. "How long we doing this for?"

it's not like i didn't try
it's not like i didn't try
to cry

the guilt hits you on thursday

"God, you're just fuckin all 'doom and drumsticks', aren't you?" Hands in the air. Conductor-mode. When words fail. "I dunno whether to call you pretentious or postentious, hah!" Pause. Victory? No, retreat. His hands go back into his pockets like embarrassed beasts.

i'm wearing black
and he's bathed in white
but the clouds
have their own dress code
and they cover us both
in a mortal grey
i look down
while he looks up
and we're the same

friday nights are for fighting

He looks at his watch. It's time to check the time. He lifts his head up, like he's picking up the trash. "Look, I'm sorry, ok?" He turns the volume down. "I'm sorry." The words linger until they become unbearable. The next words come out as fast as a cat-litter burial. "But you must admit. You get repetitive. It's like the same old shit, ALL THE TIME."

even if he's not gone
i'm never going to see him again
they closed the lid
and clicked the locks into place
they lowered him into the ground
and placed him into a concrete container
and as if his death was not enough
for me to say goodbye
they made an arrangement
with the earth
to swallow him whole

there's a sadness to saturday

He nods. "Take it away, Romeo."

i look down
and all i can see
is the green
laid over him
and i swear
i can hear a voice
i stand there
lost in the grass
and i hear the words:
"lest you forget
and for that
you give
for it's best they get
than for you
to forgive
for it's always easier
to give
and forget
than to get
and forgive"

and sunday fades away


"Fuckin finally."



* Dream home taken by Jackie Wong. This poem is dedicated to Wong Fook Lam, my grandfather who passed away this year.


Friday, June 27, 2008

gauze

























twinkle twinkle

you look up
and the heat
hits you
the stars
throb
like sores
in the sky
and you breathe it in
the influenza
in the air

pitter patter

the pavement
gives way
to the pearls
and pebbles
at your feet
you sink
into time
a dinosaur
drowning
in laggerstätte
turning pale
as you
turn paleo

ribbit rabbit


yellow eyes
blink
under dark skies
the city lights
watch and
salivate
in hunger
without arms
to reach out
the buildings
lean in
around you
creaking like
concrete timber
and medusa's
men

and smitten smatter

you stand there
in a pool
of paralysis
muscles quivering
like arrows
in wait
desire dripping
off your skin
but
you can't stand it
the white of noise
the taste of your mouth
the sound of the universe
you can't stand it
cos you hear it coming
cos you know it's coming
cos you know when it comes
the beating of your heart
will be as harmless
as a hurricane



* Photo of smallpox infecting a membrane of a developing chick.


Sunday, June 08, 2008

operation: threesome*

kiss me
with those
rows of teeth
you're four
stories tall
and five
tons just
right

there are
worse things
than not having
enough sex ...

wrap me up
in number
eights
hang me
upside down
and give me
hickies and
tentacle
tickles

there are
worse things
than not having
enough sex ...

swallow me
whole
keep me
twisting and
yearning
churning
in your belly
with a desire
as deep
as the ocean
floor

there are
worse things
than not having
enough sex

like a threesome ...

... death-match

between
a giant squid
a sperm whale
and a t-rex































* Bad Day on the High Sea by Brandon Bird. This guy is f--ckin awesome (and an equally f-ing genius). More to come from his works soon.


Friday, June 06, 2008

comeback*

yunno, they die all the time. superheroes. they come and go. they get blown up. they get shot. they get thrown into moving traffic. into pits of crocodiles. into the sun.

la fin du monde.

and they come back. turn the page far enough, and there they will be. back. like they've never been gone. like they've missed you. like they've missed being there for you.

but love. love may never come back. there is no plot guarantee. no fanboys to bitch and complain til the writers buckle and find a way to bring back the dead.

love, i'm afraid has no return contract. no sequels. no trilogy plans. no alternate universes or continuity to wade around in.

sometimes it comes. and sometimes it goes. and sometimes when it goes, it's gone.

forever.

[honey, go to bed.
there ain't goin to be
a comeback
tonight.]

alright.


















* Piece inspired by Josh Whedon's run on Astonishing X-men ... which I recommend to all lovers of good story-telling (that's right ... you don't have to be a nerd to enjoy comics).
No sleep
by Edward Ruscha.


Monday, May 05, 2008

domestica*















[the summer stars]

i don't know what i am

[the warm dark]

i don't know who i am

[the silent fever]

i don't know where i am

when i'm at home



*I found this drawing on some internet forum. Unfortunately, I can't find the site again. Regardless, whoever is responsible for the drawing, thanks! I quite like its Warhol-ish take combined with the aesthetics of MacPaint circa the early 90's.


Friday, March 07, 2008

the thirty percent*





















the waves
knock at your door
the sea crests over
your raft
and invites itself in
you're wet
over every inch
so you squeeze
your hands
and watch the ocean
bead out your pores
and yet
you feel dirty
a fraud
a white lie
that has turned grey
from overuse
you straddle over the abyss
but you lay still
under heaven's weight
a mistress
for the gods
who sometimes forgets
you forget sometimes
who you're trying
to please

you swallow
for the first time
in what seems like
a long time
your throat
contracts like a
highway
cracks emerge
in the turns
broken pieces
fall into your
stomach
dirt swept into
a pot
you're drying up
from the inside out
a scarecrow
on the high seas

you sit there
and the horizon bobs
up and down
like bait
a finish line
that runs the race
and runs away
you sit there
and you sit
everywhere
stuck between
the sea and a faraway place
neither a fish
nor a bird
but a body

made mostly of water
and a pinch
of dust




* Seascape (1969), by Gerhard Richter.


Sunday, February 17, 2008

MACKIE 1.00.000*





























* Jackie and I spent one evening writing a joint poem. It was my first ever attempt at doing something like this. We took turns writing the lines ... and so we tried our best (well, at least I did) to make it rhyme and be thematically coherent. But overall, I think it turned out quite wonderful. Thanks Jackie.


Friday, February 01, 2008

aria*












the
snow
flake
s
trip
and
tum
ble
to
earth

they
shake
through
the
air
like
jig
saw
piec
es
of
the
sky

si
lent
ly
they
shuf
fle
their
way
down

clum
sy
in
their
path
s

awk
ward
in
their
twist
s
and
turn
s

a
way
from
one
a
no
ther

the
wind
push
es
and
pull
s
them
a
part

lea
ving
each
with
their
own

lit
tle
in
di
vi
du
al

scars

they
be
long
to
the
world
now

each
one
hea

vy

e

nough

to

fall


they
make
up
the
world
now

each
one
light
e
nough
to
be
car
ried
a
way

they
fill
up
the
world
now

with
their

pa
per
tri
an
gle
s

scis
sor
cir
cle
s

and
the
re
main
der
s

each
one
a
part
of
eve
ry
thing
and
eve
ry
thing
a
pie
ce
of
an
o
ther



* Lights unfocused by Joming Lau. Thanks for the amazing photo Jo (though I haven't gotten your permission yet).


Friday, January 11, 2008

"I must say, this is very unbecoming of you."*

i can't change
i can't change
i can't change [the channel]

the lights come at me
like lasers
and arrows
whistles
pouring from the stars
i can't help it
the windshield
lets them all in

out of the tv
they crawl onto
the floor
bad dreams
seep into the carpet
sprinkles of rainbow
over a black syrup abyss

underwater
and overdressed
i twist and turn
looking for my sleeves
the world comes to me
like a music video
and i'm too slow
to close my eyes

i'm afraid
i'm afraid
i'm afraid [no one will believe me]

strapped to the chair
seat belt fastened
and running in
outer space
i'm stuck in the clouds
with an air bag waiting
waiting for me to run
out of space
i can't escape
my eyes
are not letting me out

i'm going and
i'm going and
i'm going [to die]

my mind moves two steps forward
but my body takes one step back
so the world sputters out
into ribbons
an end to a film reel
spinning and slapping
torso and limbs
limbo and torque

one stutter
two sttutter
three stttuttter
[四]

"Mark ..."
we make eye contact
your lips move
but so does the world
behind you

"Mark ..."
i can't hold onto you
i can't hold onto anything
you're saying
cos' everything wants to
greet me

"Mark ..."
we're going to die
no one believes me
so we're going to die
we're going to die
not knowing

"Mark ..."
you don't believe it
you don't believe i'll do it
and i'm starting to wonder myself
so i grab the wheel
and pull down

"..."

am i out
am i out
am i out
[?]

i look down
the pen and paper
are still in my lap
words scattered
like luggage
from a fallen plane
black ink pooling
like blood over concrete

i don't even look up
i just keep writing
i keep writing
just in case
no one believes me

























* Broken Glass painted by Edward Ruscha.
This piece is actually pretty personal ... perhaps more so that the others ... mostly because I'm still coming to terms with what happened that night in the car. Sorry for the tease, but until I'm better able to process the event, I'll just leave it at that.


Tuesday, December 11, 2007

the honey moon*

















it's better this way ...

i sing
you sing
icing
sweet
i feel
too much
you fall
too deep
it's
about time
being
so soon
drunk
from drinking
the honey
moon
a hello
a hi
a wave
goodbye
going
gone
and gone
awry
nothing
to fear
nowhere
to hide
submerge
the sun
the days
subside
one more
smile
one last
laugh
one more
before
the after
math

one more
for
the after
math

this is way better.



*
Photo of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, taken during their wedding in Hawaii in 1992.


Sunday, November 11, 2007

a december poem













the snow falls ever-ever so slowly
the bugs crawl away-always so lowly
the world shifts like a painting on the wall
as the snow slows slowing down the fall

oh, romeo, romeo, rhetorical call
a woman's somewhere, "where art thou"
tamborine julie at the cat corner store
sit with the afternoon, wait waiting some more

the clouds slide ride-ride the sky
the sun giggles, a ghost, hide-hide nearby
the world dangles like props propped on the stage
as the clouds drop dropping from age

oh, juliet, juliet, jack of all trades
a somewhere man's hand is holding your spade
piano key "romie" waiting at your hotel room
sinking the thinking of seeing you soon

the snow floats soaks the ice-cream dreaming
the bugs fuck and fly away scheming
the world falls like a puzzle apart
as the snow shows showing the coldness of heart

the snow slows
slowing the heart


Friday, November 02, 2007

.... ("small dots")*





The scene takes place in the living room of a home. There's two matching couches forming an "L" around a big-screen TV. The couches are worn-in but not out of place. Though they are clearly older than the house, their unapologetically aged state adds to the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the room. The TV is similarly out of date,
despite its intimidating size. The impressive dimensions of the screen are kept modest only by the amount of space it takes in the realm of depth. The image of a "large box" immediately springs to mind. Along the wall stands a tall plant. With the height of an adult, the plant gives off an "almost human" presence in the room. It stands quietly, like a man, unspoken, leaning against a wall, always watching but never with any sense of judgment. Underlying these various objects, the floor is carpeted, an off-white colour with a seemingly random but consistently spotted pattern of light browns over top. Viewed peripherally, it blends nicely together. Like a coffee with too much cream. Like a rolling landscape in fast-forward. Like a "van Gogh" backdrop with no subject to focus on. But there are, of course, subjects in the scene. A suburbia without subjects is simply the end of the world. And this isn't that type of scene.

****

"What's wrong with your head?" she asks.

Flip - nothin'. Flip - nope. Flip - goddamnit.

"You got a headache or something?"

"No, it's not that ..." he replies, eyes chasing the flickers of light coming from the TV. He has his fingers to his temples, rubbing in slow-moving tiny hamster circles.

Flip - again, nope. Flip - god fuckin' damnit.

She lays off the "Channel Up" button for a moment and turns her head to the other couch and finds him sitting with his elbows to his knees and hands to his head. Her sight lines effectively connect the ends of the "L" formation, creating a conceptual triangle with the objects in the room. She stares at him, eyebrows raising in anticipation. But the triangle isn't fully realized. He keeps his sight on the TV, content on holding tightly to the images on the screen. He continues to rub circles to the sides of his head.

"Writer's block. I've got writer's block," he spits out.

"Oh." She withdraws the bridge, presses down on the button below her thumb, and returns her eyes to the TV just as the shapes take recognizable form.

"I don't get it," she adds.

Flip - sunnovabitch.

He closes his eyes. They're tired from the chase. And he can't keep up with her. With eyes still closed, he rubs a little harder.

"That's exactly my problem. There's nothing to get, that's the thing. I can't think of anything to write about." A scent of desperation fills the room.

"I know what 'writer's block' is," she retorts.

Flip - jesus mother fuckin' christ!

"I just don't have it. I don't have that problem." She presses down on the button a little harder now, like she's trying to put down an animal. Like maybe if she presses a little harder, it will stay dead.

"So how do you remain inspired? How do you find something to write about? He reopens his eyes and looks across the expanse of off-white towards her still eyes. When his gaze reaches them, he recognizes the tiny flashes of light reflecting off. His eyes immediately start feeling tired again. Without removing his aim, he blinks once, and takes a second look. Her eyes remain open, her eyelids still like a frame. Like a frame of a mirror.

"Oh. It's simple," she snaps. The lights in her eyes flicker into darkness for a split-second until new shapes and shadows ignite over top of them. She is no longer releasing the button under her thumb, but instead, is grinding it in a "back-and-forth" motion.

Flip -

"You just gotta see the magic in everything, yunno?"

Flip -

"Like we're in a TV show or movie or something."

Flip -

"Like someone's narrating the whole world or whatever."

Flip -

"Like everything's got some big deep meaning."

Flip -

"And you just write about that ..."

He still has his eyes on hers. He's chasing again. But this time, he feels like he's got something by its tail. He stops rubbing. And from the corner of her eye, she notices. She turns her attention away from the screen and stares back. They look into each other. For a split second, nothing in the room moves, not even the objects on the screen. For a split second, their eyes darken, having no light to reflect off of them.

****

For a split second, amongst the various furniture in the room, and the tall plant, four tiny dark spots form. Like punctuation. Like periods. Like a seemingly random but consistently spotted pattern of small dots

Flip -

in a room of off-white.























* Averages (1987) and We humans (1974) by Edward Ruscha.


Tuesday, September 04, 2007

the last sunset
















You useless little man.
You coward.
You inconsiderate,
insecure, and
incompetent
child.
You dare throw away
those that you love
and love you in return.

...

"Throw away"?!
Ha!
You're not even strong enough for that.
You're not strong enough to walk away,
but weak enough to stand there
and watch her go.
She's disappearing over the horizon.
The last sunset.
Never again a sunrise.
Forever night.

...

She made you happy, didn't she?
She meant something to you, didn't she?
She was someone really special, wasn't she?

yes she was ...

So why did you do it?
Why did you let her go?
Why did you leave her?

because ...
because ...
it was ...
the right thing to do ...


FUCK!
What the hell does that mean?!
You self-righteous sonuvabitch.
You pompous prick of a politician.
You hollow puppet of a man.
Answer me.
What does that even mean?!
Answer me!
Answer me, goddamnit!

the truth is ...

Yeah?!
What?!
Tell me!

the truth is
i don't know what i want
and sometimes
that can be the the worst thing
you can do
to those you love
and love you in return

You know she's almost gone.
She's almost gone.
You're really willing to let her disappear,
forever?

if there is one thing
i could never forgive myself for
is to hurt her
in the way
that i think i can

...

it's true what they say ...
"you don't know what you got til it's gone"
but it's also true
you can't
further hurt those
you are no longer with

...

so i hope to god
i'm doing the right thing
cos' this hurts like hell

...

this last sunset


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

the escape (artist)

close your eyes
before the blindfold
keep your wrists together
for the knot
and hold your breath
to go under

(the trick is
you have to do it to yourself)

where you go
it's dark and wet
it's cold and enclosed
and it's the closest thing
to what you want

(the illusion is
self-empowerment)

seconds
float up to the surface
disappearing into thin air
silence
betrays your sense of time
for heaven may be a big place
but hell is just a moment
you can't move from

(the magic is
self-defeat)

the world has to wait
before you re-appear
it has to fear the worst
and want what it fears
the world must not want you back
it must lose you
think you are gone
before you can return

(the truth is)
under the blindfold
you're closing your eyes

(the truth is)
between the knots
you're opening your wrists

(the truth is)
you're holding your breath
simply because
you don't know when
you're coming back up





Thursday, August 09, 2007

boulevard*






"You're stepping on the stars," she says with her eyes lowered.

He looks down at his feet and realizes she is right. Between the pairs of shoes spells the partial name, "Humphrey Bog----." Without a thought, he lifts his right foot off the golden tile. Caught off balance by his own sudden reaction, he plants his suspended foot on safer ground, but leaving him standing spread eagle over the now open-faced monument.

"It's too bad you're not wearing a skirt," she adds relentlessly.

"Alright. Enough is enough," he exclaims, as he jolts into half-flight from his awkward pose, like a frightened pigeon chased by a rambunctious child. After several steps off in a wild direction, he looks back at her. She's staring back at him in her steady steps. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn she was trying to look innocent. But he knows better.

"Yunno, you kinda looked like an ostrich back there," she mouthes, taking another step closer to him. Her face is filled with an expressionless expression. Like a painting come to life.
"Maybe you should consider wearing less tight pants."

"I thought I was doing a pretty good 'frightened pigeon' impersonation, myself," he croaks, in a failed attempted to match her apathetic tone.

By now, she's only a few feet away from him. He turns forward in response and kicks his feet into motion, now determined to maintain some distance from her. He looks back out of the corner of his eye and realizes he has acted a little too late as she is almost onto him. In mid-step, he twists his body to face her again. A defensive retreat. An animal protecting its tail from being caught.

His mind scrambles to find words to lengthen the space between them. He looks aimlessly at the moving ground and tries to think of something to say. Like looking for objects to throw out of a moving car. But as her feet slide out of his view, he realizes that she has stopped moving. Still taking steps back, he finds her feet and follows them up to her eyes and sees that they are no longer targeted upon him. Instead she is looking upwards to the sky.

She is standing still and shrinking slightly as his retreat leaves her in a zoom out. Out of fear, he keeps his eyes on her. Out of wonder, he does not look up. Out of hearing distance, he only sees her mouth move.

"The stars. They're gone. I don't know where they are."















* Hollywood (1984) painted by Edward Ruscha. This guy is a f*%king genius. More stuff inspired by his amazing work soon.


Tuesday, July 17, 2007

anti-pro*











the talking pigs
under the paper trees
sit in chairs
and wear white sleeves
they speak great things
[and know terrible thoughts]
they paint pretty pictures
and they connect the dots

[day]

they huddle and meet
[preferably] in brick houses
together like secrets
stuck on the roofs of mouthes
they worship the signs
[and they sign the warships]
they pay to the lords
and pray to the lordships

and all the while
at work they sing:
never-the-less
always-the-more
anti-pro anti-pro
anti-pro some more
always-the-more
never-the-less
anti-pro anti-pro
anti-pro for less

the tired pigs
over the paper leaves
take off their ties
and roll up their sleeves
they huddle like livestock
[and pant like machines]
welcomed by animal slumber
[and plagued by human dreams]

[night]

they grasp and grope
as they hop into bed
they twist and turn
with the things they've said
the grey in their eyes
condense into black
[and the kingdom that once welcomed them
does not welcome them back]

and all the while
in sleep they hear:
anti-pro anti-pro
more or less
anti-pro anti-pro
anti-pro-gress
anti-pro for your country
it's not what you can do
anti-pro for your country
it's what it does to you

[anti-pro anti-pro
it's what it does to you
]



* The symbol is that of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The piece isn't against them or anything (or at least, not that I am consciously aware of). I'm just fascinated by their symbol.


Saturday, June 09, 2007

the common people*



















your yellow feet
stick to the
varicose street
and your heart
slows to
a viscous beat

we are the common people
come, join us
and expect
the expected

your crooked teeth
grind
under the heat
as you touch and grab
for a bite
to eat

we are the common people
worse than the sum
of our parts
and we have many
many parts


your sunken cheek
keeps springing
a leak
while your tongue
is swallowed for
its meat

we are the common people
come, join us
and infect
the uninfected


for it's the beautiful people
we want

we want to be them
and
we want them
to be us



* The Horse Race, painted by Judy Hall Grieve. The poem is my first attempt at writing a "zombie poem", but a lot of it was also inspired by being invited to a gala premier of a Hong Kong movie and being witness to famous celebrities up close and personal. I know it sounds silly but it's quite amazing just how "beautiful" these people are in person. At the end of the night, I was left with this surreal feeling of being both in admiration of these people and immensely insecure with myself. And perhaps that's how zombies feel, if they feel anything at all.


Saturday, May 05, 2007

monologue*














"Oh my god.
You're bleeding ..."


it smells of earth
clay and pottery class
a piece folds over
and falls into your hands
you look down
and press it against your body
but all it does
is squeeze through your fingers

"Oh my god.
I can't stop it.
I can't stop the bleeding."

it's warm outside
your hands are clammy
from playing in the sea
the air hangs of salt
and a panic
of the setting sun
the heat escapes
into a hole on the horizon
and you shiver

"Oh my god.
Help me. Help me.
Tell me what to do,
for God's sake."

in slow motion
you fold neatly
onto the ground
like a leaf in autumn
the earth creeps into your clothes
and the sea slows into a memory
offstage
the sun is broken into a million pieces
and sprinkled back into the sky

"Don't die on me.
Goddamnit, don't you die on me.
Oh god, please don't die on me ..."

you're looking up
while everyone is looking down
you open your mouth
to share the secrets
but the words are swatted away
by those grasping to understand
and before anyone realizes
the wind carries your breath away
and returns it to the sea

"Oh god,
where are you ..."


*
Sketch by Adrian Tomine. This piece was inspired by the accumulation of the tragic school shootings that have taken place in the recent years and my realization of not knowing how to comprehend them. The world is such a strange place. Somedays, I can't help but ask how there can be a God. And then on some other days, I can't help but think that there must be. But ultimately (and ironically), I don't think it really matters. If we're able to escape from our egocentric view of the world, the monologue we write for ourselves, we wouldn't be sitting around waiting for a response that will never come. And instead, we'd listen to the world around us. And maybe then we wouldn't think the world in some extremist way leading us to take some tragic action. Anyhow, I'm ranting.


Tuesday, April 03, 2007

rear-view mirror*













you're driving in the rain
and the trees chase you
like ghosts
in the rear-view mirror;
the windshield wipers
keep flipping the pages
too fast
and you see things;
you see things hiding
in the mountains

the mountains
pin to the horizon;
a point of reference,
always the last thing
to be drawn in a picture;
they watch you go by;
their eyes follow
you down the highway
like a painting on the wall

you can feel them
watching

you can feel the world
watching

you feel the world
watching

you go blind



* Vacancy 3, painted by Maya Kulenovic.


Thursday, March 22, 2007

ephialtes*














you can't sleep,

not yet,

no, you can't sleep

yet

mouth open black,
a tar pit yawning
poisonous gas,
petroleum circles
around the eyes,
rainbows swirling
into the retina,
the corners covered
in a coffee cream
glaze

you can't sleep,
not yet

clouds brew black,
the breath smolders
under pillows,
words muffled
by the ambers,
cherry coke secrets
choke-choke-choking on the fumes,
the heart sputters
in exhaustion
as the engine
dreams of a world
of horses

no, you can't sleep
yet

the world is on fire
and you haven't even finished
your reading



* Field painted by Maya Kulenovic. More stuff inspired by her talent and her visions soon to come.


Sunday, February 11, 2007

love story















She is in bed, laying on her back. Resting on the bottom end of a pillow, her head is tilted down to her chest. Her chin wrinkles into a couplet of little waves, rippling around her neck. Her eyes look down the barrel of her body and are locked onto the sight of her hands.

[the props of prose]

Next to her, he is laying on his side with his back resting against the wall. His head is held up by hand and elbow. His eyes watch quietly. He looks at her. She looks at her hands. They lay together in stillness and in silence, like lovers. Or letters of the alphabet.

[hold the story together]

Tucked into the corner of the room, the bed catches the remaining slivers of light. The white sheets make the bed and its two complements the only thing visible, as the three remaining corners of the room recede into black. The two lay in bed, adrift in a sea of starless night.

[hold the universe together]

He looks at her eyes. In them, he recognizes the focus of thought. His eyes follow down the imaginery line of sight, tiny red dots mapping out from her eyes. His visual path pauses over her mouth. There, he finds them twisted in the asymmetry of concentration. She is biting her lip.

[like cutouts of the moon]

She is biting her lip because she is trying to fix her hands. She is trying to fix the way the world is written. She is trying to fix the plot.

[finger on the mirror]

She is there, laying in bed, eyes lowered to her landscape, lips contorted in effort, attempting to stretch the wrinkles out from her hands. The universe is collapsing, so she is trying to pull herself apart.

[don't turn away]

He watches from a distance, keeping his back to the wall. But he wants to lean in. He wants to take a closer look. He wants to get caught in her line of sight, stuck in between her teeth, crumpled between her fingers.

[in mid-sentence]

But he knows his place. He recognizes the moment. And he wants it to last for as long as it can.

[there is something important here]

But he makes the mistake and speaks. "You're really pretty. Do you know that you're really pretty?" The words drop into her consciousness like a rock in a pond. Her motions slow to a stop, as the blood flushes into her cheeks. She blushes.

[a speedbump on the page]

She looks one degree towards him, then turns two degrees away. She puts her hands up to her mouth and tries to catch the vanity. "Thank you," is all she can say. "Thank you," is all she can repeat.

[and you lose your spot]

He has ruined it. He knows it. He knows the harder he holds onto it, the quicker it slips between his fingers. He knows better than to walk into the frame. "I'm sorry" he replies with regret.

[and progress in error]

Her eyes dart around the outline of her hands. She can see the air leave the room. She can feel the depressurization. But she doesn't know where it is coming from.

[there is something here]

A bubble of panic conceives in her chest, and the embryo pushes the words out into the atmosphere. "It's ok."

[it has to be here]

Her hands reappear into focus, one holding the other. She rotates each one slowly, like a jewel on a wrist. Like a star in the sky. She inspects them carefully, and to her disappointment, she finds that nothing has changed. They're still her hands.

[found and lost]

She's still falling apart. The universe is still collapsing, and it's taking her with it.

[compressed into a period]

He sees the dead in her eyes flare up again. She's searching in her story. And even though neither one of them is moving, he can tell she needs more room on the bed. He pushes away, not wanting to know perfection. He pushes away, but then realizes the wall behind him is still there, pushing him back.

[and the sentence finishes]

She can't pull herself apart. He can't push himself away.

[so, tell me something is here,
please]

They lay buried together, in the only lit corner of the room. They lay together, lost in the dark.

[tell me
the world dances
under the full moon]


Thursday, January 25, 2007

morning diamonds

dropped
from the sky,
ashore upon
the sand,
and cut out
like diamonds
and disappointment

you stretch
the morning bandages
that keep you still
at night,
but keep you sore
in the day,
and try to
blink away the distortion,
the crack in the eye

you lift your hand
into the light
to see where the pain
is coming from,
but the shapes
stay out
of focus

so you place your hand
over the sun
and hold it still;
the flames
snake into your pores
and coil around
your bones

it hurts
to be still
and it hurts
to keep looking,
but it hurts even more
to know that
something is wrong

only you can't see it

you can't see it
because it is hiding
in the bend of light,
in the crack of the eye,
in the morning diamonds

the waves of the day
wash up your legs
and extinguishes the fire
between your fingers;
you lift yourself out
of the sand
and turn your eyes
inland and away
from the end of the world

your eyes blink,
with no effect,
and as you take a step
you ask for the strength
you expected to have

for the strength
you thought was there
all along

but must have been lost
during the night



Monday, January 08, 2007

a night time daydream*
















puddled skies
clouded with ink
and black with rain;
heaven laid out
above our heads
like the bottom
of the sea;
the weight of stars,
stones in the sky,
hold the blanket down;
a little out of reach,
but stretched out
over the city,
it cleans the streets,
with its tidal sweeps,
and brushes them
into the cracks;
but there's life
between the rocks;
the ecosystem hideouts;
the crawling, the clawing,
and the cave drawing;
tiny movements,
the scatter of gravel,
and the rising smell of the sea

it's only a
night time daydream
;
it's only a
night time daydream;

or perhaps a
day light nightmare


a flicker of flight
towards the surface light,
a mere spasm
stilled
by the thoughts of
drowning




* Woodwards, by Jackie Wong. It's one of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen. I can't quite find the words to describe it. But its effect is analogous to looking at an x-ray. It effortlessly penetrates through the superficiality of the our collective ideal image of what the 21st century civilization looks like, and instead, it heavy handedly impresses upon the mind of the viewer the coarse and callous skeleton of what the "city" truly is. And despite all that (the cold reflection of light upon steel, the obtuse blinding impact-effect of the street lamp, the creeping spread of stains from machinal and human waste, etc.), there is a certain sublime beauty captured. It's almost like contemporary romanticism, or something like that (if I even have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about). In short (because I could go on for hours about it), without the slightest effort, the photo captures some effect of transcendence. An x-ray. I just hope this piece of writing does it a little justice. If not, yunno, you can always tell me to take it down.
- in complete admiration, Mark


Tuesday, December 12, 2006

the inches of the dark*

blind,
you feel your way
across the planet;
inch over
inch;
pore
over pore ...

blind,
you find yourself
at the bottom of a hill,
or caught up on a cloud;
you look up
and you look down;
but never lose
your place ...

blind,
you crawl and caress
the ground beneath you,
looking for the edge;
counting the curvature;
mapping out the mountains
and the cutouts of the sky ...

blind,
you open your eyes
and pull yourself away,
away from the darkness;
off from the ground;
you pull yourself away
and she's still there,
in front of you,
lips slightly parted,
dragging in a breath;
the features of her face
fall away from you
like the planet ...

you close your eyes

blind,
so that the world
wraps into black
and into a tiny ball;
blind,
so that you feel the universe
over the surface
of your skin;
blind,
so that nothing matters
but the inches in front
of you





















* The Kiss, sculpted by Auguste Rodin.


Friday, December 01, 2006

"they keep warm; they keep warm" *

[ the black jewels
sparkle in the dark;
they huddle together
like treasures
of the empire;
pink tails
chase each other
into the spaces
between the
stone walls;
they keep warm;
they keep warm,
and wait ... ]


fires float up the streets
on a sea of shadowed bodies;
limbs and torsos
tangle their way
through town;
the details adhere
to one another;
unobservable
- and horrifying -
as a bad dream

[ the black jewels
pass on through historywithout notice;
from hand to hand;
from mouth to foot;
never missing
an important event,
always watching
from the dark;
they keep warm;
they keep warm,
and wait ... ]


- trickle trickle -
no one speaks;
there are no chants
nor spells cast;
there is no preaching
nor claims to
righteousness;
there are no
murmurs of doubt
nor whispers
to unify

[ the black jewels
litter and lay amongst one another;
kept without order
or pattern;
shadows with fur,
shapes with feet,
secrets without words,
they keep warm;
they keep warm,
and wait ... ]

under the starless night,
above the city of stone,
at a height where the clouds
normally rest,
the sound of a thousand legs
- a millipede made of human parts -
stack its way up
to the castle tower
where one man sits in silence
and strains to hear
the sounds of progress
in the midst of mad rustling
coming from below his window

[ the black jewels
decorate the dark spaces
between
the walls
and the unspoken
words
of evolution;
they keep warm;
they keep warm
from the fires beneath their feet;
and wait,
knowing the only way
out from the underworld
is to be as patient
as hell ... ]























* Last Judgment: resurrection of the dead.


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