Swallow
Grammars gather on powerlines.
Verbs twitter in the mangifera.
I roost in humid shade,
overeating from the dictionary –
nouns sticky as langsat,
a kilo of adjuncts, a kati of adverbs.
uà ài: gāt lèu dă: jek dă uę
orotund nullibiety opaque
smeasling desuetude spoilage
uà ài: gāt lèu dă: jek dă uę
minatory plangent deliquesce
lutulent sportive grackle
The words I swallow become
feathers poking through my skin.
I am fledging for the migration.
A window yawns. I perch, skirt flapping
on the sill; a line of lipstick
palms reddening the horizon.
A Chinese-Malaysian living in London, L Kiew earns her living as an accountant. She completed a part-time MSc in Creative Writing and Literary Studies at Edinburgh University. In 2017 she took part in the Poetry School/London Parks and Gardens Trusts Mixed Borders Poets Residency Scheme and has been accepted onto the Toast Poetry mentoring programme. She has recently been shortlisted for 2017 Primers mentoring and publication scheme. Her poems have been published in Butcher’s Dog, Ink Sweat and Tears, Lighthouse, Obsessed with Pipework, Tears in the Fence, and The North among other magazines.