by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
Resident 97 scooped up the light from the vat he’d amassed through many saved cups. He would accumulate it for drinking, he thought, and that would help relieve the pain of his dying body. Only Resident 97 knew of this, that in the right quantity, the light for all its metaphorescent strobic behavior would fill the holes riddled in his lanky body that had gone brittle and fragile, resistant to the outer limits only because The Observatory stood at a negative altitude, built along the ridgeline so low, the gravity kept his disparate parts and shapes together. He didn’t need much protective clothing either because even the wind bounced off his skin, as if desiring to touch the iridescent aura that had quietly formed along his edges. There were other physical alterations too, like eye color and how it shifted shades depending on where he looked, and how he was feeling. His hands seemed to be able to grasp bigger things, the objects somehow reducing themselves to accommodate him.
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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