The Atelier

QUICK

2006-11-04T16:48:00.000+08:00

quick, quick, everything runs fast,
something is heading this way,
quick, quick, cut me no slack,
everything is right before me
suddenly, and more sudden still,
there is no background for it,
it just is quick, as quick as time flies,
and boom!

CAMOUFLAGED, FONDNESS

2006-06-28T13:05:00.000+08:00

And she dropped a pencil while walking away
I spotted and dashed for it, fearful
That others might claim it for themselves.

BAWANG DAN BAWANG PUTIH

2006-06-28T12:49:00.000+08:00

I take a knife
And pick some large round delectable
And start to prepare them
For sauteéing.
Some cloves maybe,
And the next moment they're
On the chopping board.
Ah, but I do them in like the Chinese:
Flattened by the knife's side,
With skin still clinging
And pungent.
The pan is smoking;
I do not mind.
The hotter the oil is
The more these spices sizzle.
Next I take
A spheroid lachrymose
And chopped finely they make
Me tear-filled
And the dish slightly sweet.

SUMMER, RAIN, SADNESS

2006-06-28T12:28:00.000+08:00

I'd like to think that
In the summer sky you are hidden
High above the soft cotton clouds
And a drop tender
Caresses these cheeks that
Have long been tear-soaked
And a few more drops
Your gentle hands caress
And efface the eternal grim
The melancholy and suppressed sighs
The sobs long before
All of them refresh'd
Like rain you pour forth
In this summer of our mem'ries.

SALIENCE

2006-03-29T23:40:00.000+08:00

To never say "Quiet!"
I will raise my voice
Search for something
To tell

I wish that I would never stop,
But I never am beginning anything,
How can inertia
Move me then?

And all my finer points
Have vanished like vapor
To what does salience mean to whom
When salience ne'er did exist?

Then all my voice will falter still
And raise above this ruckus
Sometime in the near future
Salience I will own as mine.

THE SWIFT

2005-10-16T11:51:00.000+08:00

And as they call the leaves of autumn,
They run with the swiftness of light,
And as such has incurred a payback
Quick.

STARS

2005-10-09T18:23:00.000+08:00

Wish I could
See a falling
From the sky
So high.

WHENCE IT RUNS FREE

2005-10-09T18:11:00.000+08:00

Whence it runs free,
This imagination of mine,
It flies like it never
Will see tomorrow once again.
It alights the ground
Of mundaneity spontaneous
And a flap, two flaps,
Its wings propel it to where
The heights of the mind, will
Grasp the instantaneity
Of the moment.

IMPULSE

2005-09-30T15:35:00.000+08:00

Impulses run quick
To the rhythm of the sound
That one hears, and when
The beat stops
The name is already taken.

SOMETHING

2005-09-30T15:12:00.000+08:00

I have something in my hand.
Would you like to know
Just what it is?

Why, yes, of course,
You silly silly person
I want to know
Just what it is.

Well then, close your eyes
Hold out your right palm
And I'll give it to you.

Well, then, they're closed.

Here it is...

HAIKU 2

2005-09-29T17:08:00.000+08:00

A glass of water
Sitting quiet, calm, and cool,
I cannot resist.

HAIKU 1

2005-09-28T21:10:00.000+08:00

Brother sparrow, how
Do I tell her my feelings?
Ah, don't fly away!

FELICITY

2005-09-28T20:25:00.000+08:00

I approach you, but my tongue is tied,
And how you smile at me!
And how you like lightning
Smile that simple quiet charm
That you know takes me ev'rytime
And you know makes me blush
A furious shade of red.
I then wonder about the things
I'd like to say to you,
But my tongue is, as I've said
More tongue-tied as I near you.
A greeting enough suffices
To make me skip and sing,
Although I would not, you know
Do them in front of you:
Propriety dictates that I
Keep a formal stance, even when
I know you are my friend.
Lots of things run through my mind
Such as how to tell you
That you are quietly cherish'd,
And that you are softly
In my dreams in my arms held.
You take initiative, but
All I manage is a stutter
And how you patiently wait,
And encourage me to say something.
I think of something, and it is
That all in a moment's breath
How you can quickly capture
My senses suspended in mid-air.
But no, that would be blunt.
I think of another thing to say:
I turn to the poets old
And the muses that inspire them
And pray for a line or two
To fall onto this silly feeble
Mind of mine, but then
A cliche seems out of place.
I then gather my impulse, and
My nerves to say the first
That comes to this silly feeble
Mind of mine, and come up with
Something like, "Um, would you
Like to go out with me sometime?"

BOLTS OF LIGHTNING

2005-09-28T19:31:00.000+08:00

There, in the distance,
Sharp bolts of lightning race
To strike the ground
And in their hurry, they
Leave in the heavens the sound
Of their swift footsteps
And their nuances
Of just where to go
They then strike the ground
At random, so random,
They never strike
The same ground twice.
They are quarreling children
Each running for their
Share of the earth's sweetness.

PENDULUM SWINGS

2005-09-27T14:08:00.000+08:00

I am close to
Accepting cliches
As my words
Veer nearer
And nearer yet
To tired, tired
Cliches.

How does one
Tell, then, of
Harbored feelings?
Do you read of
The poems of
The ancient old?
Cliches are
A dime a dozen
And yet why
Do people insist
On expensive
And flashy
And ostenttious?
There are cliches!
Inexpensive,
Easy to prepare,
Canned for your
Con-ve-nience,
And yet, they're...

Tired. And so
Am I of them.
Yet they pressure
A desp'rate me
To embrace them
And take them
For no one else
Will.

THAT PLAYFULNESS

2005-09-27T12:46:00.000+08:00

I wish'd to the stars
That I could play with you
As the moonlight
Plays with the light
Of a million stelles
Moving in, moving out,
And minding nothing at all.

I wish'd to the stars
That I could play with you
Like the leaf that fell
Plays with the water,
The moment it touches
It sends ripples throughout
The whole of being

I wish'd to the stars
That I could play with you
Like a child plays in the rain
Full of wonder and awe
And as such holds much power
To free itself from
What the world's immundane
Cannot simply see.

I wish'd to the stars
That I could play with you
The way you would, then,
Play with me, quiet,
Softly, tenderly, and yet
Vigorous and warm,
Then you with a most
Cajoling smile, teases me
Until I fall asleep
Smiling with you in dreams.

HEART ACHES

2005-09-24T09:37:00.000+08:00

My heart aches,
And I don't know
Why

My heart sings,
And I have an inkling
Of just what to do:

My steps are quick,
And light, and then
I am

My direction is
Seemingly toward
You.

WONDER

2005-09-23T22:06:00.000+08:00

Why in the midst of it all
When down on your knees,
You look up, hoping that
You'll encounter a miracle,
And to your utmost dismay
You find not a miracle, but
Something of a wonder
That fails to strike you
Where you could possibly be
Uplifted the most.

SOMEONE TOLD ME THAT

2005-09-21T13:25:00.000+08:00

Now someone once told me that
You're leaving the path that we once took;
You realize, do you, that it saddens me
To see a hapless child thrash about
And then quit in the midst of it all;
You realize it, don't you, don't you.

For while I am here on this side
Of the fork that I'm on, I pray
That you will find solace and comfort
Whene'er you feel alone as you tread
The silent steps of loneliness
I am here, no matter what comes
To hold you and let you just cry:
Let all your anguish out, it's okay
To feel the pangs of suffering
When you believe that what you believe
Is what you believe to be true.

I am here
No matter
What road
You're on.

ZERO DISTANCE

2005-09-20T10:11:00.000+08:00

I stop at one moment, continue at the other,
Thinking for a moment that you could understand,
Then I look at you and realize, that
I will never come to a conclusion.

The dreams that I have of you, in which
I believe we are at zero distance,
Your lips upon mine, breath mixed with mine,
The privacy that we held so tight
Thrown with abandon to the night air,
They are what I believe delights me the most,
And makes me wish that at the day's end
I'd be too tired, and fall fast asleep,
Too tired to just think of you.

But then how do I reconcile adept
Your passion blend with mine?
The zero distance can never exist
In a world of neither you nor I.

TENDER HALF-HEART, DON'T LEAVE

2005-09-20T10:04:00.000+08:00

Tender half-heart, don't leave
This forlorn half that is mine;
Surely the moment you slip through that door
Will I ne'er be consoled through time.

Tender half-heart, don't leave,
Plead would I just for hope
And hoping in vain that I keep you
Other half, how do I cope?

Tender half-heart, don't leave,
How could you bear the pain
Of letting us become half again
Would you rather, then, not stay?

Tender half-heart, I beg of you,
Would you still find another?
A half that will not love you like
A half loves its half-other?

Tender half-heart, then, carry this:
The sweetest mem'ry of our union:
Through the while you search and long and yearn
It would be your companion.

I will stay and wait for you, my half-heart
Till time that you return.

THERE, IN A SHADOW STARK

2005-09-20T09:49:00.000+08:00

There, in a shadow stark of outline
Lies a face that, by chance, appear'd,
Quick as a thief it snatch'd my attention,
And quicker did it capture my heart:
For one whose footsteps are hardly heard,
You had succeeded in rousing me.