by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
“Is this my purgation?” Georgia coughs into her shirt. Slit wrists still gaping, no more blood. The plastic bag that wrapped her head wrung into a thick bangle. It rustles softly like the ceiling, its changing patterns of gears and levers like Johannes Baargeld after the war. Low gasp, shoulders against rampart. Georgia pinches herself. Reminder, one’s human condition like a caulcole. She inhales, deep to hear her lungs. A rush. Paper. Mill. Fire, black rectangle. Coade stone. Falling purlins and posts. Cherie’s Mary Janes down the stairs. Window pried open. No note. No pallbearer or hearse or urn for Baargeld.
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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