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Best Poems Written by Jay Lo

Below are the all-time best Jay Lo poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Jay Lo Poem

Eden

This is my garden.

I recently discovered
the quiet allure
of the forgotten art of gardening.

More than shoving seeds into soil,
More than impatiently waiting for seedlings and then greedily harvesting the fruit of one’s labour.

More than the many thankless hours
of back-breaking weeding, mulching, watering, cursing, despairing.

And when it is time for the plant to finish its cycle of giving,
the gardener plans again, plants again, hopes again.

In the midst of this mindless weeding,
this ridding of unwanted plants,
I am often surprised by a sudden creeping silence that descends,
a rustling of leaves both immediate and near, perhaps the cooing of doves hidden.
And then I know-
I am in The Zone, lost to the world.

I am reckless in the garden, deliberately so.
Relishing a recklessness which otherwise in any other place I am not permitted.
I allow weeds to sprout
and birds to disperse seeds of indeterminate origins everywhere in this tiny and crowded yard.
My garden’s alarmingly haphazard appearance
Is strangely comforting and somehow familiar.

I check-in daily
on the betel leaves, periwinkles and black-eyed peas-
humble and oft-overlooked flora.
I am learning from their hardiness and dependability,
their valued ordinariness.

Re-potted, sytrofoam-boxed, stringy, stunted, yellowing and nondescript
None look impressive.
Yet,
I am satisfied, I am quietly content
With these hurriedly snatched moments
on a Sunday morning, on a harried weekday evening
here among these humble pots.

Here in this garden of joy,
faith is restored
sanity preserved
through the power of a seed.

26 Dec 2013.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

Dragon Kiln

here, nestled among jungled trees
vines, leaves, ferns
antiquated ceramics and miscellany pottery
the monstrously massive
the grotesquely hilarious
the intriguingly quirky
the familiar and the surprising

dusty congregation in somnolence
indigo, cornflower yellow, bone white
a delight, a mystery
a forgotten anomaly
a skip and a hop from the nearest shopping-insipid-mall

navigate the silent corners
up the creaky stairs
between rows of pots, vases, plates and sculptures
a. veritable. treasure. trove.
whiling away a rainy afternoon
enchanted, entranced
lost, and happily so.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

As a Member of Humanity

as a member of humanity
the pain of poverty 
diminishes me.
give my gold away
mere things have no sway.
guard my wayward heart
from lies and coldness
indifference and busyness
that i may  heed the cries
casting away pride
to cry  alongside
with a new way of seeing
become a better human being.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

Winter

winter cannot decide to go or not
she paints her colours white, grey and white
some mornings freeze over, some mornings not
"will spring ever arrive?" many fret.

winter bestows snowflake upon snowflake
falling here, there, everywhere and more
while children hasten snowmen to make
before winter takes leave and spring rains pour.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

When I Was 17

when I was seventeen
life was sweet
and worries flit, seldom staying.

rose-hued days
of endless youth
one long ice-cream lick
to challenge the sun.

pages turn
now I am thirty
how dim the days of youth
how fleeting the hours until sunset descends
rose hues still.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

Dragon Kiln

here, nestled among jungled trees
vines, leaves, ferns
antiquated ceramics and miscellany pottery
the monstrously massive
the grotesquely hilarious
the intriguingly quirky
the familiar and the surprising

dusty congregation in somnolence
indigo, cornflower yellow, bone white
a delight, a mystery
a forgotten anomaly
a skip and a hop from the nearest shopping-insipid-mall

navigate the silent corners
up the creaky stairs
between rows of pots, vases, plates and sculptures
a. veritable. treasure. trove.
whiling away a rainy afternoon
enchanted, entranced
lost, and happily so.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

Grief- a Study

guilt and grief
mingling like bosom buddies
regret and loss
hand-in-hand
questions never asked
a life not known

a death
and another
motherless, now fatherless
bereft, and bereft again

i live now
caring for the kids
yet in a haze
the kids, so alive
so real, so in the now
always calling me out from my cave

let me sit here awhile
let me nurse this grief
and commune with this loss

i shall not run away
it awaits me, daily
every corner, every spare thought, every unguarded moment
inarticulate, unspeakable
grief that has no name
but mine and mine alone.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

Remembrances

remembrances, of dad
so alive. now silent.

shall i speak it
shall i speak of sadness
not sorrowing grief
but inconvenient sadness

the gaps
the gaps of a father i did not know
did not understand
the child he once was
the man who lived and fathered me

the first of his siblings to die
they came and watched wordlessly
pre-occupied in scattered thoughts

the long goodbye
uttered over and over
long after dad left us
yet i am still
now calling, now whispering
goodbye.

Details | Jay Lo Poem

My Soul

My soul thirsts for a landscape of beauty
perhaps when i am surrounded by beauty
i may then find calmness in that beauty.
my soul longs for quiet
lush, verdant quiet
perhaps in the sobering solitude
i may discover strength.
my soul, it seeks life
the life which is green and pulsating
life which speaks fortitude and grace
for this unending journey.