based on Weightless, a series of drawings by Susie Wong
This much I can imagine:
hard rain falling on old skin,
splashing graphite clouds
quadrupled in lightboxes
on white walls. Light lays bare
his shirtless torso, his profile
bending, but not breaking,
to the rain. His eyes,
like his wrinkles, are complex
with shades and shadows.
It escapes me why he seizes his chest
as though pain should not flee toothless:
I touch my chest in frail parody,
feeling for the outline of that
which age has yet to trace
into sharp relief. He turns his back
to me in the last two pictures,
perhaps to grant me time
to walk away, weightless with youth,
when he is not watching.
Loh Guan Liang is the author of the poetry collection Transparent Strangers (Math Paper Press, 2012). He is also the co-translator of Art Studio (Math Paper Press, 2014), a Chinese novel by Singapore Cultural Medallion recipient Yeng Pway Ngon. Guan Liang lives in Singapore.