Being myself is a path
I rarely follow.
What I lack
in ambition I compensate
with superb laziness. Barely motorized
like duck on water.
The flowering tree’s not my enemy.
How could I blame beauty
for how ugly I feel?
Nor blame the luminous night sky:
aurora, aurora, aurora.
I pick up the Bible as when I was young.
Love is forbidden fruit. Is the burning heart
in the cavity of Jesus.
by Joseph O. Legaspi
From Cagibi Issue 2: Three Poems by Joseph O. Legaspi
Joseph O. Legaspi is the author of the poetry collections Threshold and Imago, both from CavanKerry Press; and three chapbooks: Postcards (Ghost Bird Press), Aviary, Bestiary (Organic Weapon Arts), and Subways (Thrush Press). Recent works have appeared in POETRY, New England Review, World Literature Today, Beloit Poetry Journal, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day. He co-founded Kundiman (www.kundiman.org), a non-profit organization serving generations of Asian American writers and readers.
Author photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths.