Impressions

Chal

(translated from the Tibetan by Lowell Cook)

as time goes on

a thing called “home” grows clearer in my mind.

all of these things all around me are, in fact, my home.

i don’t know how to make a big commotion or start a movement;

i don’t even know how to stir things up or express some of the

strangeness hidden inside me.

but always dormant on the surface of my impressions

with a little bit of cunning             are these things.

these things

that will shift into a definite expression on the face of time.

taking it slowly

there is nothing closer than these.

as you move             i too gain a sense of movement.

(The original Tibetan poem first appeared in sa ok gi charwa (Rain Beneath the Earth), published by mijü pétrün khang, 2020.)

Chal (Tib. འཆལ།) is the pen name of called Mani Döndrup (Tib. མ་ཎི་དོན་གྲུབ།). Born in the early nineties, he is currently a farmer without any land. His works have appeared in the journal, gang chen mé tok (Snow Flower). He has four collections of prose and one of poetry.

Lowell Cook is a lover, reader, and researcher of the entire breadth of Tibetan literature, from the ancient Dunhuang manuscripts to contemporary poetry. His aspiration is to be able to share some of the richness of Tibetan literature with the world. He completed his MA in Translation, Philology, and Textual Interpretation at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal.