Visiting My Younger Self
My love, dearest heart.
The ache that double bends you will fade.
It will not be the only hurt.
Just as the boy you think you are in love with now
will not be the Only One.
Many more will apparate
to delight and torment you.
Your favourite song,
that forever friend,
even our mother and our father,
you will outgrow them all.
You will learn that all choices
come with regrets.
Yet for all this,
I would not alter the course.
I would not seek to protect you
as you search for your own singularity.
But what I would do
is whisper in your ear,
brush against your shoulder,
tug on the wind chime at your window.
May my breath compel you
to return the smile from Pa’s careworn face.
May my touch persuade you
to linger in Ma’s desperate embrace.
May the chiming bell turn your gaze
towards a brilliant sunset.
May you pay attention
to your one rapturous life.
A Moment in Poetry
Some moments are not meant to be shared
except if they become poetry.
Like when you say
you have nice proportions
your hand skimming my skin so gently
I’m not sure I’ve been touched.
We lay side by side, together
the whisper of air between us, electric,
the heat of our bodies seeping into
the cool terrazzo floor.
Do you mean to brush your lips against mine?
Do I mean to press my hips against yours?
Do we mean to drift to sleep fully clothed,
knowing we are not in love enough?
In this moment that is not meant to be shared
except if it becomes poetry?
Maureen Tai is a Hong Kong-based Malaysian writer who has published creative works in literary magazines such as Cha, Mekong Review, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Kyoto Journal and Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, as well as in local and international anthologies. Primarily writing for children and teens, she has published short stories for children with Oxford University Press and Marshall Cavendish (Asia). In 2022, she won the WriteMentor Children’s Books Award (Picture Book category) and received honorable mention in the Ann Whitford Paul-Writer’s Digest Most Promising Picture Book Manuscript for fiction. Maureen’s work and book reviews can be found at www.maureentai.com. She counts her time as the Program Director of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival in 2023 as a highlight of her literary career to date. She is active on X (formerly Twitter) @MaureenTai.
I have read Maureen’s work with pleasure. As the years go her voice gains subtlety, strength and range. These two poems about love, different types of love, coming from the same deep source, are evocative and lovely.