These poems about food were originally posted on the AsianVoices Website (1997-2006), which featured poetry and fiction by young Asian writers.
Eating in the Street
Fish, turn into balls
become fishballs, are sold
for five dollars for five
uncooked, small;
cooked, they are GIANTS
people like GIANTS
people drool, hawker’s bag? Full.
Squid, with eight legs
only have four when sold
for five dollars for four
legs. Mind you, eat
the legs first or
sauce splatters your face
people drool, hawker’s bag? Full.
Waffles, too many squares
with peanut butter when sold
for five dollars for half
Caution! Hot!
With the power to cook your tongue
people drool, Hawker’s bag? Full.
Siu Mai, a dim sum
pigs become fish when sold
for five dollars for five
or six, wearing fine yellow jackets
with soya sauce and too hot.
people drool, hawker’s bag? Full.
Students, teachers, workers,
policemen, housewives, firemen
bowing together, 90 degrees
specks on uniform
people like eating in the street
stomach full, doctor’s bag? Full
~Clara Cheuk (Hong Kong)
A Cup if Coffee, Please
Bubble, bubble,
floated the cinnamon.
bathing Mocha looked up
into the cloudy sky.
Strange, strange,
I’ve no choice where to live,
Just picked up by the strange
human-shaped house.
Sigh, sigh,
without even a hello,
the house poured me
into it’s dining room.
~Nora Chung (Hong Kong)
Haiku
Fresh hot snacks on sale,
the smell of roasted chestnuts
has summoned my heart
~Lee Sze-nga (Hong Kong)
Kranji Fruit
Black balls in clusters,
hear His call in the jungle
tips of harvest due
~Kucinta Setia (Singapore)
Ode to Gold Kiwifruit
New kiwis cannot fly
Are tendrils that climb on high
One step at a time
Moving on is nature’s right
God’s tears flow up to the roots
Nourish bodes to make way, hoot
One step at a time
Babes that are guiltless
As cherry blossoms tide.
Open is prepared shyly for the travel route
Up another step at a time
Once it fruits, it lives
Oh! The ingenious families
Find, gather, experiment
Combine, combining
Qing Yuan, Huang Yan, Long Quan, Jia varieties
Break through the tests of gold
By divinity, the goodness of gold kiwi.
Those desired rare yuanbao of Chine
Are shaped onto bodes of new kiwis
So they are made to be
The heroic tears of God’s promise
Envision carefully as they are made to be
Kiwifruits do express feelings.
Welcome bygone days for little kids
I peel the new kiwifruit for office tea
Treasures shine from within;
Seeds congregate with a flame
Surrounding the core is
To begin from humility
As the gold kiwi shows it is.
~Kucinta Setia (Singapore)
Canteen
Cats and dogs love your vicinity
Animosity replaced with amiability
Near your time to start a day so easy
The speed of shredding, washing, cooking
Eggs crushed to pieces on the saucer
easy serving nori is sushi with nectar
Near the cock crows, canteen opens for meeting.
~Kucinta Setia (Singapore)
déjeuner
On the patio where rose and honeysuckle scents
Float from the trellis to the gingham tablecloth,
A man in beige slacks sits and watches summer sprouts
Arc dazzingly above the pale banoffee pie,
Whose crust was corrugated no less with skill than love,
Like a votive offering, between the tetra-pak spouts
Of orange juice and milk, before the grapes of sloth
That drape the sharon fruit. Nearby, the cookbook lies
Upon the other placemat, its restless feathers stirring,
The winter of its contents pages whitely blurring,
Dissolving in an infant Pauillac, whose aroma
Promises sweetness, then ushers in the quiet trauma
Of a sour attack, a siege of tannins, and a tense,
Lithe body, flawed in wanting grace, not excellence.
~Toh Hsien-min (Singapore)
AsianVoices Archives: These poems were originally posted on the now-defunct AsianVoices website (1997-2007), which featured poetry and fiction by young Asian writers. Copyright belongs to the original authors. If you are the writer and would like to remove, add or edit this work, please contact me at zijun01@gmail.com and I will promptly carry out your request.
