Quantum Love Poem

By Marne Kilates

Because time is a tyrant
It is an empty gulf stretching between us
It is the gully that yawns
Between the Volcano’s shoulders
Carrying the debris of dry ash
And rocks from the crater
To rampage over the plains killing civilizations
Herculaneum Pompeii Budiao Cagsawa
As survivors kneel in the church of Daraga

Between you and me
The churning Pacific where storms brew
Between you and me
The memory of typhoons uprooting
Memory itself the glutinous 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢
The leaves of taro
The cyanide in the tube of cassava

Between you and me
Wounds of pigment bleed
Knives  scrape the scars of galaxies
Disturb the sleeping dust on the far side of the moon
Distend the orbits of stray planets
I am not here but I can touch you
From the other side of the universe

Because I am there and here
Entangled with your memory
The distance between parallel universes
That will never meet
Between you and me the infinite involutions
Of the Sacred Geometry of oblivion

About the Poet:

Marne Kilates is an award-winning poet, freelance writer, editor, and translator. He has published six books of poetry and translated works by leading Filipino poets such as National Artists Rio Alma, Bienvenido Lumbera, and Lazaro Francisco. He has won the Philippines’ Palanca Memorial Awards, the National Book Awards, and the SEA Write Award given by the Thai royalty.