a kind of creature my love
comes of its own wilderness
furry here and there
dangling with suspended eye
might have been a rock
but moves
and proves the eye
with seen
must speak another language
you take a photograph
pet, prey and predator
grows closer with a look
and when you look away
let the sunshine in with
lusted after and before as well
a creature kiss is me for you
like weather come home with
and holds and wants to touch
gender? look under?
or could be overlooked
bounds after in an insect cloud
and in a heartbeat too
ridiculous days together we spend
fallen hard for the facts
and new
this creature never was
so sad sometimes at going
loves me so so much
as frequently the thing itself
pure abstraction animal is
some days as if by my own breath, skin
not even first thing but fast asleep
and far away
come closer, come
enough of myself told
animal
as animal
I did all sorts of things
you can’t even imagine my
shall-we-call-them-habits
I knew
let’s say I was the whole adventure
and ache
there isn’t a book of it
not even in pictures
as animal
some certain all-sorts of acts
my call
for argument, of the wild
heard over quite some distance
imagine
full of tucker
grubby grovelling about
days gathered me to riot
I was all out of the blue then
not even down from the trees
earlier, before flesh, fur
when I was merely swim
and caught a wave
set sea
clean of least suspicions
should anyone have opened a hand then
fall forward on my face
I simply would not have known
you see
I dragged myself on through the untold
into the mire and got together with
nobody said ‘you animal you’
or nicely if they did
it wasn’t really nakedness
it was I would call it luck
the chasing round the page
ah but then the whisper, sigh
and laughter you could not account
when I was wag-your-tail
who’d care?
I can’t remember the arrangements
said all with the eyes
and sniffle
and wink
wink back
between us
not a word
Kit Kelen’s poetry has been published in Chinese, Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Indonesian and Filipino. His most recent English-language collection, Poor Man’s Coat: Hardanger Poems, was published by University of Western Australia Press. Kit is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Macau, where he taught Literature and Creative Writing for many years.