> Books: The Babies by Sabrina Orah Mark Saturnalia Books: Ing Grish by John Yau

ISBN 0-9754990-2-5

Ing Grish
poetry by John Yau
artwork by Thomas Nozkowski

The second in Saturnalia Books Poet/Artist Collaboration Series

$16


“'Swift perception of the relation between things is the hallmark of genius,' said Aristotle—or so Pound remarked. In these singular poems, that elation becomes a complexly articulate play between all such things and the names our common habit gives them. Genius John Yau is the only conductor imaginable for this brilliant train of wildly divergent thought."

—Robert Creeley

from ING GRISH

I never learned Singlish

I cannot speak Taglish, but I have registered
the tonal shifts of Dumglish, Bumglish, and Scumglish

I do not know Ing Grish, but I will study it down to its
black and broken bones

I do not know Ing Gwish, but I speak dung and dungaree,
satrap and claptrap

Today I speak barbecue and canoe

Today I speak running dog and yellow dog

I do not know Spin Gloss, but I hear humdrum and humdinger,
bugaboo and jigaboo

I do not know Ang Grish, but I can tell you that my last name
consists of three letters, and that technically all of them are vowels

I do not know Um Glish, but I do know how to eat with two sticks

Oh but I do know English because my father’s mother was English
and because my father was born in New York in 1921
and was able to return to America in 1949
and become a citizen

I no speak Chinee, Chanel, or Cheyenne

I do know English because I am able to tell others
that I am not who they think I am

I do not know Chinese because my mother said that I refused to learn it
from the moment I was born, and that my refusal
was one of the greatest sorrows of her life,
the other being the birth of my brother

I do know Chinese because I understood what my mother’s friend told her
one Sunday morning, shortly after she sat down for tea:
“I hope you don’t mind that I parked my helicopter on your roof.”

...

 

saturnalia books
www.saturnaliabooks.com
info@saturnaliabooks.com
Last Update: April 30, 2007