As with a Senryu’s Hardening Ridge
by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
jalousie windows open
six months of chill as welcome
as five years, seven inflections
precise, scaled dots dropping off
and the rubbing out
of the fire in the hole
flailing legs like broken twigs
lost torso in grass –
his half-closed eyes are gasping
in the brush, faceless man down
canal, wash of red
three chase dreams, cartwheeling in –
hidden variable
this winter as cutting dry
About Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
Biography
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.

