Rare Books & Special Collections, UBC Library
míng are young tea leaves softened in the pacific
is the ocean engraved on worn bodies of migrants
even the birds and the insects of a new place míng, but here
their cries are clouded so they míng….. with grief
míng is the sweeping sea….. the sea is also
ellipses of rain, evenly spaced out and countable
míng was once a way to describe home or a face
traced…….. again and again through the night
how did míng become mìng,… a new order
of sense…… an open secret…… a sacrifice
to stay with a míng that overwrites
speak a míng peeled from the dead
deliver it easily like a motto… say míng
again and again until it is more than part of speech
míng is still the sweeping sea
still tea leaves softened in the pacific
Notes:
- 茗 [míng]: tea plant
- 銘 [míng]: to engrave | inscribed motto
- 鳴 [míng]: cry of bird or animal | to make a sound | to voice (one’s gratitude, grievance, etc.)
- 溟 [míng]: sea | to drizzle
- 明 [míng]: bright | clear (of meaning) | to understand
- 名 [míng]: name | noun
- 命 [mìng]: life | fate | luck | order or instruction
Gillian Sze is the author of multiple poetry books and picture books. Her latest poetry collection, Quiet Night Think, received the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She teaches English literature and creative writing at Concordia University in Montreal.