Desmond Francis Xavier Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé (b. 1971)
SELECTED POEMS
Catachresis, Then Catechesis
“Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness.”—Pope Benedict XVI
How much can you stretch that note,
across the page,
line scored with blood from finger and lip
—bloodied, hoarse throat?I was taught the virtue of exacting strain
from the particular,
an exactitude of language habitude/attitude.I was taught stress was a good thing,
pressure application to hear the snap, the shattering glass.Till meaning broke—
watch for the particular instance
of breakage.When sense seems rent.
And, all one hears is hole,
the wholeness of the empty,
more bereft
than bereft.How much to displace when replacing?
What of meaning, diced, spliced—no then utilized here,
to connote some sequence or consequence, even relevance?I was taught so many things.
But for silence, there’s the discourse of it.
But for the discourse of silence
—there’s none of it—
—who was it who said that, as if to rejoin or echo?—
—not even the irony—
—who is it now, who speaks within this utterance?—there is always that of holy silence.
“Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness.”
Pope Benedict XVI said this.
There are more lines to the line.
There are more lines
—to line the line.“Listen to God.”
[ … … … … ]
[ … … … … ]“Adore Him in the Eucharist.”
by Desmond Francis Xavier Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
from Heart Fiat: New Catholic Poems (2024)
