Famous Reporter # 38 - poetry, Cyril Wong: 'Divine Intervention'

CYRIL WONG

Divine Intervention

When I think about God, He comes as a disembodied

voice in a poem that asks, Where’re you this instant?

Carefully I answer, I’m struggling down the side

of a mountain; behind me, the past has lifted off

into cloud; before me, I’ve yet to see level ground.

Then I am asked, What’re the moments that may

help you continue? It is an easy one: Every time

my lover unzips my body to reveal its joy, or when music

creates an opening in the air for a burdened heart to fill.

Since you’ve come this far, He chides, why have you

suddenly stopped walking? Taking a deep breath,

I tell Him, This is because I want to keep dancing

upon the jagged rocks without any fear of falling

and curse at those stars blinking ridiculously above;

not caring if I’m cold, or if my voice receives no echo;

not caring if there's still much further I'll have to go.

Cyril Wong is the author of six poetry collections published by Firstfruits Publication and co-author of Excess Baggage and Claim (Transit Lounge, 2007) with Terry Jaensch. Internationally, his poems have appeared in Atlanta Review, Cider Press Review, Fulcrum, and Poetry International. He was a featured poet at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Sydney Writers Festival, the Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale, the Byron Bay Writers Festival, the Queensland Poetry Festival, the Singapore Writers Festival and Singapore's first poetry festival, Wordfeast. He is the founder and co-editor of softblow, an international poetry journal online.