Poetry (Liang Xiaoming)

by Liang Xiaoming (translated by Denis Mair) Poetry unfolds along my eyebrows, back to where I can't see Poetry owns every hair on my head It plants wheat on every inch of my scalp Poetry wakens in my nostrils Wide awake it raises a sail of jute And heads downstream When poetry charges through my lips You hear birdcalls and sunshine Sounds of waves greeting clouds Poetry crosses rough terrain to find my feet It passes through the sky to discover my eyes Bright and clear as a piece of rare glass Where its whiskers show in tiny reflections White hairs fleck its temples for today's sake Throat here and ready when it shows itself Poetry leans on my shoulder weeping Poetry stands at my ear singing