Clyfford Still’s PH-401 (1957), by Cyril Wong

PH-401, by Clyfford Still (USA) 1957

Clyfford Still’s PH-401 (1957)
 
To no longer be beholden to any side
in the painting’s argument of falling reds
and jagged black, yellows and greys 

like smashed birds barely extirpated
from the canvas – how traumatised existence
has appeared to me. How I long

to be the framing wall, or the mind
of some enlightened viewer floating away
like a kind of bird, abandoning duality.

Cyril Wong
​
Cyril Wong is a poet and fictionist in Singapore. His latest book of poems is Infinity Diary, published by Seagull Books.