POETRY
Post-traumatic stress sonnet of the Indigenous archeoastronomer
by Kevin Martens Wong in Issue Ten, August 2023
Star-rise. I wake in arms of amber light,
Awash in swiftly dreaming galaxies.
I turn, I yawn, a wayward, drowsy sprite
Untempered by dying vagaries.
Wrap me instead in lazy gleam of quasar,
In the shimmering dust of a thousand suns:
come alive, Jong1, Pari2, Biduk3, Bintang Tujuh4.
Come alive, as the glimmering tides become one
Constellation; never lost, nor consumed
But turned to iridescent astral flame.
Resplendent in amaranthine hue,
reveal to me at last heaven and all its names –
And liberate me from fear, mercurial hair still astray
as forgotten starshine at last becomes dawning, never-ending day.
1 The Chinese Junk, a constellation known locally in the Malayan Peninsula.
2 The Stingray, a constellation known locally in the Malayan Peninsula.
3 The Paddle-boat, a constellation known locally in the Malayan Peninsula.
4 The Pleiades star cluster, as known locally in Malayan Peninsula.
© 2023 Kevin Martens Wong
Kevin Martens Wong
Kevin Martens Wong is the gay, non-binary Kabesa (Leader) of the Kristang / Portuguese-Eurasian community in the Republic of Singapore, and the Omimerliang (Merlionsman) and Tigrisoneru (Dreamtiger) of Pulau Ujong: a living human magnamakara or psychoemotional gate guardian supporting the psychoemotional well-being of all peoples regardless of race, language, religion or sexuality as an independent scholar, teacher and speculative fiction writer. He is the developer of the Osura Pesuasang, the Kristang theory of human individuation collected in the Libru Laranja or Orange Book (merlionsman.com/the-orange-book), and publishes new plays, poetry and prose in English and Kristang at Tigri sa Chang (tigrisachang.substack.com).