‘Lichen Poem’
I have decided to be multiple things at once.
To eat only air as rocks do (glancing at grains
of sand swept away on scorching winds),
as trees do (fighting for water in the forest
amongst other trees), as a father’s love
would do (in the tool shed, an act of repairing):
to be a second skin on top of what time
and absence has deemed unworthy of touch,
needing nothing but abundant breath.
I am also a good baker. Give me sunlight
and live off me with what little you have.
We should live together. Nest on my hair
or make nests with it. Consume me, if needed.
Where there is algae and cyanobacteria,
there is a fine line between desperation
and necessity. My dominant side
is fungi, so this should indicate:
sunlight and decay are kind to me,
and—on the rotten wood of shadows—
will be kind to you through me.
King Llanza (he/they) is a poet from the Philippines. He is the author of All My Distances Point to Home (2022), finalist for the 2021 Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize, the 41st Philippine National Book Awards, and the 23rd Madrigal-Gonzales Best First Book Award.