Poem: Desmond Kon (Singapore)

: plummet into tasik gembira :

what a hardwood pageant world : our small berth
a sudden hush, whispered cubes into a basin
disappointment, sarong drapes over open contours
water nymph like a hawksbill turtle on the sandbank
like a dugong, its stiff smiling, rock-like :
rolled onto its back this surf, if that’s sea-mark love
.
let’s not flatten ourselves into ridges and corners
.
a flame blowing south, thickening :
apprehend or amend, the remake paints, off floors
every little thing, one more callous time
.
or wheedle the new bulgari pinkie ring
.
I will hurt your heart, this softening no :
this naïve gauguin into this : thin-lined
expressionism, more loosened colour :
then the boxy braque shapes in a new waltz
then the horizon, tender lift over sundown water :
then your face in the clover of your sleeve
.
hershey’s sex after dinner, wayfaring naked dares
mixed up with longing for what was, sediment :
free love and thank-you happy, of earth
another merlot moment, wetsuits around ankles
and aerosmith on a five-speaker bose, mega bass :
.
maybe it’s love of the collaged : the move
maybe, lived-in love at salon d’automne to the end
love maybe, amidst isms, feldspar nonetheless

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* The words “tasik gembira”, conceived as an imagined and fictive space, translates as “lake of happiness”.
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Desmond Kon (Zhicheng-Mingdé) has edited more than 10 books and co-produced 3 audio books, several pro bono for non-profit organizations. A recipient of the Singapore Internationale Grant and trained in book publishing at Stanford University, he holds a theology masters (world religions) from Harvard University and fine arts masters (creative writing) from the University of Notre Dame. New work is forthcoming in Blackbird, Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, and PANK. Also working in clay, Desmond sculpts commemorative ceramic pieces for his Potter Poetics Collection. These works are housed in museums and private collections in India, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.

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