Paul Tan (b. 1970)

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SELECTED POEMS

我是 (i am)

Chinese too
skin as yellow as loess
shining like good gold
my eyes surely black
dark mirror black well
limitless unlike
my tun-tun-tu-tu vocabulary

english speaking
cursing dreaming moaning in it
waist deep chest deep
in over my head
i eat these words
a whole thesaurus
stuck in my throat

stuck like sweet treacle
or glutinous rice, you say
why does the teacher strike
me with her wooden pipa
as i sing whitney houston for you?
my tongue feels kinda funny
i think i’ll go eat worms

mr neither-here-nor-there
doing a slow limbo rock
lower and lower straddling two halves
there’s a smell of joss
and the crowd is crunching ritz
something’s about to dislocate

Moorings

Outside the ships are
riding the crests and troughs of sea
but never moving.

I rub the last of sleep
off my eyes as I watch you—
your upturned white soles,
soft toes and eyes still closed.
I leave only a touch
on smooth thights.
My hand tingles.
This perfect picture blurs.
Love is wet around the eye,
I once said over a rainy supper.

I think (no, I know)
you would rather I leave quietly.
I button up slowly and
turn to the door,
leaving you in golden morning glow,
resplendent slumber.

A ship recovers its anchor
and pulls away sadly
as if in a dream.

by Paul Tan
from Curious Roads (1994)

 

SELECTED POEMS: “Anxious” >