Blog of the Week - The Bystander

I have a special treat for you today, kids. It was with joy that I saw Kelvin S.M. 's name pop up again in the Poetry Pantry recently. Kelvin is an amazingly talented young poet, living in the Phillippines, whom I interviewed in 2013. You can read all about him here,  if you wish. Kelvin writes at Just Bystanding. He went quiet for a while, as poets do from time to time when life gets busy. So I asked him if he might grace us with an update, to share what he's been up to since we last heard from him. And to say "welcome back!"

Sherry: Kelvin, we are so happy to see you, and to enjoy your poems once again.

Kelvin: This is unexpected, to be honest, but I am glad that you have invited me for this series in Poets United. Smiles.

It has actually been 6 months since I last posted something on my blog, but it doesn't mean I have stopped writing during those times. I just got too busy on my day job as an accountant in an expanding real estate company. More reports were asked to comply on  extremely tight deadlines, making what supposed 'a day' to be 'a night job' as well. The company went through a series of transitions,  adapting  new accounting software to improve  current operations, so that's why. 

The company is now in a recovering phase and hopefully, after this, everything will flow back to normal. Well, all the efforts I have invested is not wasted, as I am currently expecting something bigger in my career. Smiles. On an aside, in between busy hours working in day & night, I somehow was still able to find time writing new poems, revisiting old poems, rewriting old poems, & reading random poems. My sister (Karla), also graduated in college & now is a Certified Forester landing top 5 in her board examination. We encountered testing times as well during the past 6 months like surviving several typhoons that hit the country, falling down of my grands ancestral home, & loss of a loved one. It was quite a busy 6 months, wasn't it?

Sherry: Oh, Kelvin, I am so sorry for your loss of a loved one, and of your grandparents' ancestral home. That is a very big loss and, yes, it sounds like almost too much to have occurred in six months. 

Kelvin: So, what's new now? Well, I recently got back into blogging & decided I want to have a title for my blog---"Just Bystanding", that's it! No big deal about the name. It's just simply how I describe my writing, a by-product of 'just bystanding'. I like to observe people & places and be able to tell stories about them beyond what the world only knows. A sort of delving into the world of humans without being noticed. I'm a certified weirdo but that's what I enjoy about being a poet, to be weird & all. 

The poems I've written before weren't deleted. I have only reverted them to my draft folder for many reasons, like planning to revise / rewrite to improve my crafts.

Sherry: I am relieved to hear that. When I couldn't find them on your blog, I was worried, as you write so wonderfully, I don;t want a single poem lost. Would you please share a few of your recent ones, and tell us a bit about each?

The Novice

blue.

that is the colour of my eyes

in the morning.

deep gray at night.

when i think

i know well this world---

what the trees pray in december---

what the earth buries under---

the colours suddenly change.

like hot blue in summer days.

like plain gray on a rainy day.

interesting.

this morning

my eyes are blue again.

blue as in lapis lazuli.

my whole is peeping

through a window like a bird

virgin at knowing

when the deepest shade of gray

will arrive.

 In the poem "The Novice" I tried to explore the different shades of the sky before my eyes, how rapidly each shade changes from time to time without you even noticing it. Every day I have the sky before my very existence, and I standing void, a beginner of every today and tomorrow, knowing nothing of the coming of new life and how quickly it will end.

Sherry: I know the feeling only too well, my friend. I have been a sky-watcher all my life, so this poem really resonates with me.

Road Sleeper

  after Joyce Kilmer's "Roofs"

It is time now

      for my feet to roam in

          open, wide road like

              a gypsy-man.

I will sit

      on the grass, seize

          the stars and the night's

              sweet breath.

I will pay

      the sky with tears for

          starlight, bed life

              in highway's canvas.

It is time

      to go home in the dark

          where sleep is

              good and gold and long.

"Road Sleeper" is actually a found poem from another poem by Joyce Kilmer, "Roofs". It aims to portray a life of someone who wanders, a vagabond's last remaining time on the cold, dark road where he finds home.

Sherry: (Kids, did I not tell you you were in for a treat?) Your writing is so beautiful, Kelvin!

Red Sky

a bullet speaks to a pigeon:

do you know i watch you (many times)

from behind dark drawers of nature?

how often you fascinate this eye of a lurk-

ing lover with your proud, laudable gesture?

do you know i always kneel in 45-degree

angle---this is how i pray---and

wait the sky to open its curtains

for your wide-spanning wings

while i meditate?---

no more. no more faux pas---

for this time, your heart and my love

shall never part as we paint this sky

red.

“Red Sky” is a bit abstract. It documents the brutal scenario of shooting birds but in lighter tone & approach. I have turned the whole scene in a complete opposite, making it read like a romance between two lovers.

Sherry: Well, that is an interesting approach.

Night Walk in Paxton St.

1.

imagine this:

i, wearing bear-skin,

walking slowly in close mid-

night hour crossing Paxton St---

tired and hungry and drowsy.

i stop.

the sky is a crawling river

hosting a school of tiny salmons.

i chase for the biggest one.

2.

the brightest of salmons

rests before my eyes

unaware of this bear intention

to conquer after loud silence.

i smell the night,

quaff a few saliva.

i jump (just before the dawn

kills the plan)---

i swallow the salmon, hide it

deep down my throat.

3.

i open my eyes, and there are

the moon, the stars, the same

old street in urban setting.

there is the poet

who writes about the river,

the bear, and the salmons,

and more and more,

and more and more.

“Night Walk in Paxton St.” completely describes my life during those extended hours at work and going home late, walking my way to Paxton St. between witching hours. The bear and the salmons are metaphors for myself and the bright stars in the sky.

Sherry: I love the image of the young poet, under the stars, going to and from work, but with his thoughts as broad and free as the night sky. So what are your plans for the coming months, Kelvin?

Kelvin: Currently, I am venturing my time submitting  poems for publications  online & in print. I am also into writing a series of poems for an annual major poem writing contest here & abroad. Smiles.

Thank you, Sherry, for inviting me to do this. 

Sherry: It is truly our pleasure, Kelvin, and thank you for allowing us to catch up with you, and to enjoy your wonderful poems.

We need to keep our eyes on this young man. He is so talented, I know he will fly far on his poetic wings. Do come back and see who we talk to next, my friends. Who knows? It might be you!

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