tiny monster
un-pressed, when all her petals are re-levelling.
I had been hiding amongst the walls of caves
and now I exist again between the bright horizon
of everything that blooms. And in this season of re-emerging
I am the gentle beast curling in the pollen, like a dazzled bee.
No compass needs to guide me.
The bees abuzz above my face think
I am blossom, pollen-filled,
drunk with natural honey.
of Zeus. My fins, outstretched fingers,
tease owls. Their eyes set the sun.
I bask in Nyx's light & Hypnos' songs.
And descend into the indigo myth
until a new dawn.
to attain such freshness
a petal, rippling in the green cloud.
Ancient fears fall away like scales, one by one,
even ancient wisdom loses its way.
You float, no longer needing purpose, listening
as all things burst into bloom.
Our flesh, too,
grows white and light, ready to be reborn.
Blossoms and branches sway.
Petals land on my shoulders,
are breeze-kissed to water,
a floating reminder
that I am here
before I've gone.
~
Ma Yongbo is a Ph.D., representative of Chinese avant-garde poetry, and a leading scholar in Anglo-American poetry. He has published over 80 original works and translations since 1986, including 6 poetry collections. He focuses on translating and teaching Anglo-American poetry and prose, including the works of Dickinson, Whitman, Stevens, Pound, Williams, and Ashbery. He recently published a complete translation of Moby Dick, which sold over half a mission copies. He teaches at Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
The Collected Poems of Ma Yongbo (4 volumes, Eastern Publishing Centre, 2024) includes 1178 poems and celebrates 40 years of writing poetry.
~
Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 is the English co-translator of Chinese poet Ma Yongbo 马永波, her official translator. She is a committee member of CB1 Poetry, the established monthly poetry reading event in central Cambridge UK, which has organised poetry readings for many years. CB1 features up-and-coming writers and well-known poetry names.
Her work has been translated into Chinese, Bangla, Greek, Vietnamese, Serbian, Korean, Arabic, Italian, Albanian, and Romanian.
Website: https://www.helenpletts.com/
~
Barbara Harris Leonhard is the author of Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (2022) and The Lost Book of Zeroth (2025). She is co-author of Too Much Fun to Be Legal (2024) and Broken Rengay: Unruly Poetry (2025). She's a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. Trending Poets named her Poet of the Year in 2023 and 2024. Her poetry has been translated into Italian, Albanian, and Chinese. She is the Editor for MasticadoresUSA and FEED THE HOLY. Her blog: Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver.
~
Nolcha Fox's poems have been curated in print and online journals. A best-selling author, her poetry books are available on Amazon and Dancing Girl Press. Nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize multiple times. Editor of Chewers by Masticadores and LatinosUSA.
Website: https://writingaddiction2.wordpress.com/
Thank you, Kelly!
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ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post, Kelly! Thank you so much!
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