Two Poems

Morocco

I haven’t thought about you much either,
for some reason. I’m making
a sort of effort to now, though; look
at this poem. Written
in a stripped down, prosy way
to express my honest affection
and because all other styles
are closed to me, like doors
in rock. Poetry: a chalk-drawn
door in the rock face, with instructions
for the sea: erode here.
And in a sense, it listens,
only it erodes everything else
too. As you said: our love
must be different—

Chinese Poem II

Last July, I left home
and travelled to Fujian.
The sea was wild, waves
as high as my father’s
storehouse. First we betray
our family, then we betray
ourselves. I stripped to my
cotton pants
and drowned myself.

____

Philip Taylen lives in Aberystwyth, Wales. He writes https://oldoldoldoldnew.substack.com.