Ordinary Time

Desmond Kon

“Like a rising star (cf. Num 24:17), Jesus comes to enlighten all peoples and to brighten the nights of humanity. Today, with the Magi, let us lift our eyes to heaven and ask: ‘Where is the child who has been born?’ (Mt 2:2). Where can we find and encounter our Lord?” - Pope Francis

There are limits, a place
of dead ends,
to the rhizome.

It doesn’t sprawl,
after all,
the way you used to think.

The way you used to think—

what does this smallness,
this small epiphany mean?

What do all of life’s small moments mean?

+

The rhizome does not posit
an adequate answer
to these things of the day.

The rhizome is
but a symptom
of these things.

I return to the tree,
after all the years—
where I first began.

To think of things,
these things
of comings and goings.

+

It’s Ordinary Time again.
Ordinary Time,
when we wear green again.

I think of this
as celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day
every day—

the prayer
that Christ is everywhere.

+

Ordinary Time—
and looking for the extraordinary
within.

Now that yesterday is yesterday.

Now, with the Feast of Epiphany ended, celebrated.

Now, how the wise men looked to the Light of the Star.

How, Saint Thomas Aquinas knew the meaning of signs.

How they worked.

What language
and geography
they spoke.

How, now

—notice this,
know this—

the wise men
worshipped

the Infant
Jesus

without
a ready home

or
welcome.

Desmond Kon
Writer

Desmond Francis Xavier Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé is the author of an epistolary novel, a quasi-memoir, two lyric essay monographs, four hybrid works, nine poetry collections, and a creative guided journal. The former journalist has edited over twenty-five books and co-produced three audio books, several pro bono for non-profit organizations. Among other accolades, he is the recipient of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, Illumination Christian Book Award, National Indie Excellence Book Award, Poetry World Cup, Singapore Literature Prize, two Independent Publisher Book Awards, and four Living Now Book Awards. Desmond is Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing and Publishing at Nanyang Technological University. He can be found at: desmondkon.com

Photography by Ivros Konstandinos