After shocks rage
after years contained in this
middle-aged celadon overfull of
revolt and revolution from Earth
who took this gentle man,
from geum san li, a long-ago
lost village, now seeking not
knowledge, but understanding in
fluttering lines of narration,
wresting shape without form,
through eyelashes squinting to
create some sort of mechanical
clarification through a glassy heart
and sinew as breaths arise surrounding
your mind and your ears itch
straining wheat from husks, until
interrupted, noticing the density of the
muffled power of jet engines
at 30,000 feet propelling
time forward over Her adamant
ruts and roads and allusions to
humpback whales and wooly
mammoths, such ancient beasts,
such religion, the She who determined
whatness, when, and why and held
dominion over quietus —
Georgia San Li is a writer, currently working on poetry and Portrait: From the Tarmac, a novel. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the Antigonish, Atlanta, Confluence (UK), La Piccioletta Barca and elsewhere. She is the author of “Wandering,” her first poetry chapbook, a Minerva Rising finalist, and selected for publication by FLP (Jan 2024).
