L | Commentary | lettrism and the choka of graphemes

feelings like standing
in grasslands, plateau afield

this day windless and whipping

feelings of love spells rising
plying, pillion-high senseless
yet defiant –


levitate, hover: in stasis


ceil tear caught on camera
portage ice
noir light from behind



We've published two of Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé's chapbooks now; the Pessoan-influenced 'Let Dinggedicht Speak' and the gorgeous vignettes of 'In Memoriam To A Marionette'. Looking back through all of his pieces, there's always the same duality - on first sight, you've got the cold precision and frequently simple beauty of the words themselves, which sometimes appear like a more selective version of the random spatter-poetry of the unconscious (Ginsbergian, as one Silkworm said), so much so that if Desmond didn't leave a few clues fully on view, you'd have practically no idea of the hidden, immensely complex games he's playing. To take it as Impressionist work, relying upon different mental self-positionings to appreciate the smaller mechanics and the larger art, would be horribly trite. But I'm going to say it anyway. And, in fact, just did.


The short poem 'lettrism and the choka of graphemes'...yeah, it's no exception to this theory. Would we, the reader, have cottoned on to the exact nature of the radical formalism of the visual symbols and the 5-7-grapheme Japanese form of this poem if the poet hadn't let us in on the play with its title - and as importantly, how many contemporary poets could have titled their work 'lettrism and the choka of graphemes' and made it sound appropriate and fascinating rather than unbearably pretentious?


It's a joyful, informed playfulness with the base components of the language that runs all the way through his work - as with the unmentioned word 'pylon' in this poem, which is felt around linguistically "plying", "pillion-high" and symbolically with the repeated sense of height, standing structure, remaining (mostly) firm beneath the pressure of air-movement.


I still find myself uncertain of, though in love with, the final three lines, which are disquieting, evocative and in their own way, lacking in any grander meaning. But in just ten lines, every single word picked with the greatest of care, Desmond reminds us of just how lucky we are to have published his work on Silkworms Ink.

Silence | Chapbook | Vol XLV, Let Dinggedicht Speak by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

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Vol XLV, Let Dinggedicht Speak

Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé (25.2.11)

 The Dinggedicht, translated as “thing poem”, is a type of poetry that explores objects from within rather than from without.

"I’m spoofing my awkward Chinese name of four characters (an anomaly where I come from since most Chinese first names comprise two characters), rendering it a strange idiomatic personality. The parenthetical heteronymic names featured in these pieces are traditional Chinese idioms, used here to characterize the particular speaker/s within each piece." D. K Z-M

Biography | Chapbook | Vol XLII, 'In Memoriam to a Marionette' by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

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Vol XLII, In Memoriam to a Marionette

 Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé 

To make up for missing last week's chapbook we have got something very special indeed. If you know him, he needs no introduction - Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé. A chapbook of vignettes that together form a caudate sonnet of 24 pieces of postcard fiction.

Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé has edited more than ten books and co-produced three audio books, two of which were anthologies. The other titles span the genres of ethnography, journalism and creative nonfiction, some edited pro bono for non-profit organizations including Sok Sabay Cambodia, Riding for the Disabled Association, and the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre. A former entertainment journalist, Desmond has traveled to Australia, France, Hong Kong and Spain for his stories, which have included features on Madonna, Björk and Morgan Freeman, culminating in the authorship of the limited edition Top Ten TCS Stars for Caldecott Publishing. Trained in book publishing at Stanford University, Desmond studied sociology and mass communication at the National University of Singapore, and later received his theology masters (world religions) from Harvard University and fine arts masters (creative writing) from the University of Notre Dame. His poetry and prose have appeared in more than a hundred literary journals. An interdisciplinary artist, Desmond also works in clay. He has designed and sculpted ceramic works to commemorate Albert Camus’ 50th Anniversary, the Dalai Lama’s 50th Year of Exile, Gerard Manley Hopkins’ 120th Anniversary, Edgar Allan Poe’s Bicentennial, and Grolier Poetry Bookshop’s 80 Years of Service as the Oldest Continuous Poetry Bookstore in the US, among other commemorative pieces. His ceramic works are housed in museums and private collections in India, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.