one bud to one tender leaf                                                                               —Natasha Sajé

after lu tong


on lion peak mountain  
evergreen forests are fed by dreaming-of-the-tiger-spring
in soft mist
                                                a wind

weng shang yi is eighty-four
fingers blistered from frying tea
his face a round saucer
                                                a wind hurries

his wife picks the leaves
by the fifteenth day before spring equinox
tomb sweeping day
                                                a wind hurries my wings

for an hour the fresh leaves wither
then are fried then rest then are fried then rest and after
the third and final fire    barely damp

                                                a wind hurries my wings toward

no thirst  no sadness  all is fair
each body’s language of sinew and bone
touching other worlds
                                                a wind hurries my wings toward heaven
 

photo: David Baddley

photo: David Baddley

Natasha Sajé is the author of three books of poems, most recently Vivarium (Tupelo, 2014); a book of poetry criticism, Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory, (University of Michigan Press, 2014); and many other essays. She is a professor of English at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, and a member of poetry faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts M.F.A. in Writing Program.

ISSN 2472-338X
© 2017