David Wong Hsien Ming (b. 1988)
SELECTED POEMS
Chemo
It is night on your skin
where the needles swam.
Your body’s practiced betrayal
halves the venom’s speed today.
We have porridge for dinner again.
The swollen grain like flies’ eggs
hang together as we hang
together. I suppose in an older age
the eggs would have hatched and the maggots
would be weaning gratefully
on you, whom I kiss
with veils about my eyes.
The sheets that hold your sleep
ebb and flow and beg your ease
to God who’s just about ready to—
look all I’m saying is
life does all the work
and we let death take all the credit.
by David Wong Hsien Ming
from For the End Comes Reaching (2015)
