Nicholas Wong
Octahedron
“Creativity comes from awakening and directing men’s higher natures,
which originate in the primal depths of the uni- verse...”
I Ching
Qian (Sky)
secrets – servile
& mildewed
for their unspoken-ness –
wait for the wind that blows
toward the ditch
so they can dwell in the dirt-ether
hide in a turret uphill
& wish not
to be mentioned
the shame of being forgotten
like the sky
always there when a head raises
Dui (Lake)
oxymoronic name
locals call it hell lake after
a tourist slips & boils herself in the water
alive
her skin peels off
naturally like a snake’s
the proximity to death
& aliveness is simultaneous
steamy lake surface –
a cinematic martial
art moment
a master swings a sword
to bisect the lake
the radius of which
unmeasured
Li (Fire)
roll a cigarette
with a manuscript
– manure –
words wiggle better
in prosody of smoke
puff on the reddened face
of an anemone –
or anyone –
petals grow pinker with nicotine
then go ashen grey
listen in silence how tobacco
crackles like wood on a bonfire
masochistic
Zhen (Thunder)
flashing of corpuscles
copulates with corpses of memory
having sex with the dead is good
they never complain – and
if they do – how
optional orgasm follows
moaning loud as thunder
between connubial mountains
Xun (Wind)
the wind is tired
of the active
voice (silenced)
for once in its life
it wishes to fall
for the passive
perfect
as in has been
brushed as in
has been blown
away
Khan (Water)
the lotus misses the wind
the ego of petals spoiled
to be royalized
but the water understands why
she has met the wind –
once – which quickened the slowness
of her tides
– a push – a pull –
a tug-of-war rendezvous afterward
three blouse buttons left by the shore
Gen (Mountain)
keep the words in the fridge
they rot at room temperature
carry them to the mountain
& set free each of them at the apex
when language reaches
the deep dark troughs the wind
will be a courier
each syllable delivered
to whoever
should have been reached
Kun (Earth)
Press 1 for a human voice
Press 4 for nature
Press 23 for fish songs
Press 39 for historical speeches
Press 6 for blacks
Press 10 for survival
Press 92 for political correctness
Press 71 for 7Eleven
Press 220 if you miss phone cords
Press 220# if you wish phone cords were not spiral
Press 54 for lasagnas
Press 8 to know what your ancestors used to eat
Press 16 for joy
Press 43 for emotions that existed before joy
Press 777 for fortune
Press 88 to buy time
Press 13 to hear God
Press nothing to remain unchanged
Say navel button to hear yourself
Nicholas YB Wong is the author of Cities of Sameness (Desperanto, 2012). His poems are forthcoming in 580 Split, American Letters & Commentary, Gargoyle, Interim, The Jabberwock Review, The Journal, Natural Bridge, Quiddity and Weave. He is the recipient of Global Fellowship Award at ASU Desert Nights Rising Stars Writer’s Conference in 2012. He reads poetry for Drunken Boat. Visit him at http://nicholasybwong.weebly.com.