Jennifer Mackenzie is the author of Borobudur (Transit Lounge, Melbourne, 2009), republished in Indonesia as Borobudur and Other Poems (Lontar, Jakarta, 2012), and the recently completed collection exploring choreography, Map/Feet. She also reviews writing from and about the Asia Pacific region.
Jennifer has presented her work at many festivals and conferences in Asia, including the Ubud and Irrawaddy Festivals, and recently completed a writing residency at Seoul Art Space_Yeonhui in March and April of 2016. She has a Masters’ Degree in History from the University of Melbourne on the historical fiction of the Indonesian novelist, Pramoedya Ananta Toer. She lived in Qingdao from 2000 to 2003.
Tai Shan
high on the mountain peaks
swirling wind
the Daoist temple even higher
still the men keep coming
their bodies bent double
carrying water on poles
here sleeping in a hovel
between damp sheets
tomorrow
on the train to nowhere
moving through this
shuttered landscape
to a village
small enough to break you
to that
jug of poison
waiting for you at the
barn door
where is the bliss of southern clouds
and a hushed lantern
water clear as honey
mirror of petals?