Long Finger Poem
Translated By Peter Campion
I’m working on my poems and working with
my fingers not my head. Because my fingers
are the farthest stretching things from me.
Look at the tree. Like its longest branch
I touch the evening’s quiet breathing. Sounds
of rain. The crackling heat from other trees.
The tree points everywhere. The branches can’t
reach to their roots though. Growing longer they
grow weaker also. Can’t make use of water.
Rain falls. But I’m working with these farthest stretching
things from me. Along my fingertips bare shoots
of days then years unfurl in the cold air.
Source: Poetry (April 2007)