Recollection
This
is the largest storehouse
Between heaven and earth
No dirt, wood, or metal can support
Its innumerable drawers, tightly locked
But keys aren’t necessary
In this wordless memorial book
Crisp characters appear at a moment’s notice
Across its blank pages
Projecting endless expressions
Of
the tears that avalanche after laughter
Of the silence after tears run dry
Of the dance hall after folks leave
And songs that refuse to dissipate
Of the mess of footprints on the asphalt
And that one deep tire groove
Of
floodwater engulfing dry earth
Leaving streaks never to repeat
Of mad winds looting the woods
And those leaves levitating
Of storm clouds that fail to cover the heavens
The spray of faint starlight on the tapestry of night
Of the arm that knows not how to swim
Slapping hopelessly at the breakers, the heaving surface
Of
the sudden struggle in a moment without gravity
The nihilist sky shot by lightning, frozen
Of the quintet in a deeper dream
Time and time again, thinking I had woken –
That melody unspooling forever by my ear
Of the stubborn stare like ice on fire
Searing into corresponding pupils until scars are formed
Repetition
Waters
never repeat
Waters that stream past never return
Winds never repeat
Wind that combs past become traceless
Clouds never repeat
Water-vapor, up in the skies, change their expressions constantly
Sunrises
never repeat
Every morning, the blazing sun
Enters the scene in a different fashion
Starry skies never repeat
A meteor glides across
And the night’s veil altered forever
Time
never repeats
The bygone years
Like waters
Like wind
Like clouds
Like meteors skating by
Dreams
never repeat
As you wish to reenter last night’s dreamscape
The alarm has already mercilessly woken you
Humans created this word “repetition”
Simply to prove
That there is no true repetition in this world
Transformation
Between heaven and earth
No dirt, wood, or metal can support
Its innumerable drawers, tightly locked
But keys aren’t necessary
In this wordless memorial book
Crisp characters appear at a moment’s notice
Across its blank pages
Projecting endless expressions
Of the silence after tears run dry
Of the dance hall after folks leave
And songs that refuse to dissipate
Of the mess of footprints on the asphalt
And that one deep tire groove
Leaving streaks never to repeat
Of mad winds looting the woods
And those leaves levitating
Of storm clouds that fail to cover the heavens
The spray of faint starlight on the tapestry of night
Of the arm that knows not how to swim
Slapping hopelessly at the breakers, the heaving surface
The nihilist sky shot by lightning, frozen
Of the quintet in a deeper dream
Time and time again, thinking I had woken –
That melody unspooling forever by my ear
Of the stubborn stare like ice on fire
Searing into corresponding pupils until scars are formed
Waters that stream past never return
Winds never repeat
Wind that combs past become traceless
Clouds never repeat
Water-vapor, up in the skies, change their expressions constantly
Every morning, the blazing sun
Enters the scene in a different fashion
Starry skies never repeat
A meteor glides across
And the night’s veil altered forever
The bygone years
Like waters
Like wind
Like clouds
Like meteors skating by
As you wish to reenter last night’s dreamscape
The alarm has already mercilessly woken you
Humans created this word “repetition”
Simply to prove
That there is no true repetition in this world
Lengthen me
Into the straightest road
Leading to the infinite distance
Shorten me
Into the span of a metal nail
Don’t know where I will be hammered into
Into a vast public square
To hold tourists from the four corners
Shrink me
Into a miniscule stamp
Don’t know where I will be sent to
As tall as a summit
To solicit the dancing clouds
Compress me
Into a floor tile
To be trampled by the soles that keep coming
A beautiful, fresh bursting
To live but one day
Transfigure me into a statue
Drying upon an ancient cliffside
Silenced for thousands, ten thousand years