Poetry Spotlight: Jessie Jing

This issue's spotlight is on the Jessie Jing, a poet and dancer who is originally from Hong Kong.

A brief introduction by Jessie: I have been writing for a considerable amount of time. I’ve always wrote a diary as a young child, that then morphed into writing lyrics in my teenage years as I started seeking for a more complex and artistic form of self-expression. It then diverged into poetry writing, and until today I still write my poetry with and emphasis of rhythm and melody in my mind. Here are four poems by Jessie:

A Friend in Passion

I once thought passion
To be passionate
Meant this explosion of emotions
This explosiveness
This unwillingness to give up
The sweat
The tears
That came with all the successes
To reach these great heights
To then validate my existence
Partly so
Yes
Similar to that of a rival
Yes
That push and pull
Yet
Passion
My friend
Is also one

One who encourages you everyday
Each and every step along the way
Celebrating the new things in life
The small things
A grin
A wink
That came from overcoming these failures
So to live on another day
To live in one
Passion and existence
Yes
PassionMy friend.*

Dance of the Kitesurfer

Several pliés in the air
Following the melody of the wind.
Each wave is their beat, to prepare
For the moment of magic within.
The music composed by the crashing of waves
With the rhythm of the wind on their face.
The spotlight shining down from the sun's rays
Their five senses alive and embraced.
A jump, a glide, a touch of the water
A speed unprecedented but controlled.
For this is the dance of the graceful kitesurfer Through the eyes of a dancer it was told.*

Before I Sleep

Before I sleep
Herein lay a million thoughts
On those not-so-soft pillows
They were splayed across.
Before I sleep
A mental picture etched into my memory
Of the blank, beige ceiling
And pale orange drapery.
Before I sleep
Those soft, low stirs Encasing the bedroom,
Like a second ticking clock.
Before I sleep

Present yet dormant
This empty scent that lingered
My nightfall oxygen.
Before I sleep
A creeping warmth there was Just by the other side
So near to my heart.
Before I sleep
Eventually came my final thought
I love you
And all went dark. *

A Heart Haunted

One may ask
Do you still love him
As your thoughts run
And run
Towards a finish line that never existed
How could the love then cease to exist
When a mirage of him
Haunts the corners of your eye.
One may say
You still have feelings for him
For even a sliver of resemblance of the past
Easily trembles my hear
As I run from my thoughts
And run
Far away from my living memory
Of what resides as a spectre of him
Haunting the corners of my eye.*

Jessie, on what she'd like to see Overachiever Magazine accomplish:

I would like to see more visibility of Asian artists and their writings/artworks; their artistic perspectives and cultural knowledge (both past and present). There are only a handful of Asian artists that had reach international commercial success, and it would be great to have a platform that would continually support Asian artists on starting/middle level stages. We need a place to cultivate and restore our cultural history to the modern generation, in hopes that it can maintain the integrity of our cultural identity.