THE BOAT PEOPLE
Perched on a net, a lone cat
gazes down into the water,
His attention caught by a fish.
His sungold eyes darken
As he yawns and pulls his tail in close.
Mothers prepare fish in charcoal braziers
While thre fishermen cast out their nets.
Mothers prepare fish in charcoal braziers
While thre fishermen cast out their nets.
The murky river is pierced by their lanterns.
Attracted by the light, schools of fish
surface into the nets.
Boats on the Nai kong Delta float
like memories of shadow after rain.
Women spend entire lives
gazing into the tumid depths of the river
And their children are conceived
in the incunabula, the boat-cradle.
Babies learn to walk on the decks of boats
never knowing the feel of dirt
or grass beneath their feet.
Only in death do they learn the feel of river bottoms —
How the contour of river banks hems them in.
Only then do they learn to furrow the fine silt
through their fingers and toes.
In the distance, sumi-ink hills bleed into the water
hunker down, like cats at dusk.
3/10/82
Only in death do they learn the feel of river bottoms —
How the contour of river banks hems them in.
Only then do they learn to furrow the fine silt
through their fingers and toes.
In the distance, sumi-ink hills bleed into the water
hunker down, like cats at dusk.
3/10/82
minor revision
No comments:
Post a Comment