naomii seah
supernova
i am not a writer //
i am a figure in a snow-globe
dancing in the storm //
i am a girl in a mask
wearing another mask underneath //
i am a star glowing
neon
orange //
i am a heavenly body
twisting faster into orbit
reaching for the abyss //
i am a galaxy collapsing
folding softly
toward a singular
centre //
i am white hot
heady jasmine //
i am a swarm
of bees //
i am an
unsteady
consciousness
on
the
verge
of
能不憶江南? | Lament for A Chinese Diaspora
日出江花紅勝火，春來江水綠如藍。能不憶江南? | Rì chū jiāng huāhóng shèng huǒ, chūnlái jiāngshuǐ lǜ rú lán. Néng bù yì jiāngnán?
—白居易(唐)
In the sunrise, the flowers are more red than the fire, and in spring the river is as green as blue. Who could forget Jiangnan?
—Bai Juyi (Tang dynasty; trans. Google Translate/Naomii Seah, 2022)
Who could forget 江南 | jiāngnán
where poets 哭 | kū & willows 哭 | kū
& children-left-behind 哭 | kū
in front of 妈祖 | māzŭ, who took their pearl-tears for 宝物 | băowù
& carried them to shipwrecks as epitaphs
for sailors caught in tempests
weathering the storm before the calm
in the wide Pacific sea
能不憶 | néngbùyì
the 绿蓝 | lǜlán beauty of the Kuroshio current, exposing
the white teeth white 眼 | yăn of yellow men
rolling, pitching forward on white foam
as if the whole world were 白 | bái & other colours only a veneer
that sloughed off the further away one drifted
from 中国 | zhōngguó, no longer world’s centre,
& as far as the 五岳 | wŭyuè of legend
Who could fail to remember
the pick-axe buried in the river-bed,
金 | jīn gilting, golden parody of the setting sun,
trickling down-stream toward half-dreams of new merchants
fish & chips worth their weight in white-jade
spinach and hard bread for 火鍋 | huǒguō
neon fires blazing as the trees turned orange & bled,
ash reaching upward, obscuring 紫微 | zĭwēi
谁 | shéi could fail to remember
the unbroken thread running red through the ring of fire
blood stretched thinner than water
reflected in the sunrise on a limpid morning
the rain in springtime a monsoon birthright
the sodden earth sprouting yellow-clay figurines
tongues tangled in 英语 | yīngyŭ
the taste of iron in their throats
from half-forgotten 方言 | fāngyán spoken on cordless phones
if you go too far West
you come back to 东 | dōng.
Naomii Seah is a recent graduate doing the struggling writer thing at her parent’s house in Tāmaki. Her words have appeared in The Spinoff, The Pantograph Punch, Starling, takahē, Stuff, Mayhem and Overcom, among others.
Glossary
江南 | jiāngnán — Southeastern region of China
哭 | kū — cry
妈祖 | māzŭ — Chinese goddess with domain over the sea, said to protect travellers
宝物 | băowù — treasure
能不憶 | néngbùyì — who could fail to remember
绿蓝 | lǜlán — green-blue
Kuroshio current — Southwestern current in the South China Sea
眼 | yăn — eye, hole
白 | bái — white
中国 | zhōngguó — China. Lit. ‘Middle country’
五岳 | wŭyuè — Five semi-mythical divine mountains of Chinese folklore
金 | jīn — gold
火鍋 | huǒguō — hotpot, a dish made of boiling broth in which various ingredients are cooked
紫微 | zĭwēi — The North Star (Polaris), used in maritime navigation
谁 | shéi — who
英语 | yīngyŭ — English
方言 | fāngyán — dialect / language
东 | dōng — East