by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
Madness is Plath lettering annotations into the wallpaper, Sexton looking into her curls, brown buzzard. Madness, a respite, and vision of tulip-shaped heads. Madness, the corn poppy less than or equal to the polyantha rose, its posturing as erect, sculpted into moonstone. As Rodin’s Camille throwing off her Breton headdress as if no faith could contain her, her dreams in disarray. Petals. Hardwood shavings. Maelstrom. Crumbling bartizan. Hidden lintel. Sand against skin. Industrial glass. Madness wading through mud towards the mangrove tree, knife wounds in its roots cleaved, open like black leaves. Within a megalith curve, quivering promise. Another forty years.
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ABOUT THE POET ~
Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé has edited more than ten books and co-produced three audio books. The titles span the genres of ethnography, journalism, creative nonfiction, and poetry, several edited pro bono for non-profit organizations including Sok Sabay Cambodia, Riding for the Disabled Association, and the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre. Previously an entertainment and lifestyle journalist, Desmond has traveled to Australia, France, Hong Kong and Spain for his stories, culminating in the authorship of the limited edition Top Ten TCS Stars for Caldecott Publishing. Trained in book publishing at Stanford University, with a theology masters (world religions) from Harvard University and fine arts masters (creative writing) from the University of Notre Dame, he is the recipient of the Hiew Siew Nam Academic Award, and Singapore Internationale Grant, with his poetry and fiction appearing in nine chapbooks, various anthologies, and over 140 literary journals. An interdisciplinary artist, Desmond also works in clay, his ceramic works housed in museums and private collections in India, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.
Last updated May 31, 2011