Take The Sky 


““...may we not be strangers in the lush province of joy” ― Charles Wright


Take the sky that was my mouth

Take the words that were our bones
Take the time that was our hope
Take the rhyme that was my heart
Take the body that was my map
Take the thoughts that was your gift
Take the compass we imagined would one day be burned into the hulls of ships 

                 as our teeth fell into the sea

Take the scales and skin and carcass of the fish in the market window in Lisboa

our reflection counted in the heartbeats of the dead 

Take the moon that fell like a prayer

for you

once along the spine of Taiwan

once from the bridge’s shoulder iin 內湖區

once when lived with the Tamsui River fleeing in our throats

once when we died with Jade Mountain at our feet

once we when swallowed the sea as feast for Mazu off the collarbone and beach of Yilan

and what remains, now?


our story a white bone heavy in the lost sea still long toward home, loved away.