OVO

White winter nights,
There lies a creature blessed
to be clad in his jet black coat.
Looking for the end
in endlessness

you poor keeper

Every phantasmagoria has to end,
But bright skies float idly in my mind. yet it deprives, eats away at the small viscera.

hope frays

Treated as a pest
Can’t you see? To be black was not my choice

THAT is a Pest!

–

The young crow walks along the gravel road,
his black feathers glistening in the sun.
Autumn painted cadmium gold
He always dreamed of a place in the sky,
so he spread his wings and fly. up

The young crow chanced upon a flock of doves,
whose feathers were all as white as snow.
He really wanted to make friends with them, so he went up and said ‘Hi!’

Alarmed by his sudden intrusion,
the doves flapped and rattled their wings.
“Go away, you little vermin!”, they said,
“You don’t belong to our flock”

The young crow returns to the gravel road,
his black feathers glistening in the sun.
Autumn painted cadmium gold
He always dreamed of a place in the sky,
but he just walked on. Restraining the anxiety of returning empty.
hope hungers
Oblivion mocks me like a cawing crow here-
Oblivion would embrace me like its first friend above.

–
Millions of metres like the first remain empty,
While all i can do is look,

up.

For every person I see today,
There is an empty fabric of blue above.
Light, free, fast, liberating
Suspended like a submarine within the fluid
The ability which envies many men
Wrapped in red and blue in their imagination
Which also seeks to do what I do

Under the dim light night
Blue is all I see In the shadows,
Or at least it was
Before metallic grey came about
Wind rushing through my side
Closer than any to the heavens
That which I thrust down, thrusts me up

What are these extra legs they have
Holding metal tubes, depriving lives of comrades
Do you shoot out of jealousy? But Look!
What glorious light does yonder window breaks!

darkness upon darkness with
silence in his flight –

Large when my feet support me, tiny when they don’t
Height becomes a diameter
the silhouette of an aeroplane fades
into existence
happiness crafted
perfect

–

It is the East, and The eagle soars
A creature of war cast as the guardian of peace
The shield and protector of the flock

Yet a weapon forged calls for blood
A bird of prey feeds
Scanning the sky Prey is spotted

Gracing the night,
Wings fold, trajectories align, gravity takes over. That irresistible force. Speed increases,The rushing wind, an exhilarating sound. Distance dwindles, and so too hope
For the point of no return approaches. Paths converge….and diverge. A miscalculation or perhaps a reflexive avoidance maneuver. An infinitesimal difference
And hope springs again

The eagle decelerates
A chance was missed but others will come
Wings flap, the long climb begins
An ever watchful eye on the sky
Searching, eyes glint graspingly scouring for prey
Death to all who stand before me,
Except there would be nothing in the sky.

That which supports me on the ground
Used by man as indication of age
Malleable, susceptible
a shifting hope
which man calls his
and becomes that which supports me in the air
Bernoulli’s feathers of steel

that soul lifter

–

The hands of a bird, For killing yet for courtship.
In all colours, shapes and sizes.
Plumage of teal and gold.
From which emits their galling caws,
And too their mating calls.
Its clicking when threatened,
Its grinding for comfort,
the reverberations of chirps echoed but
long gone
The beak of a bird,
For killing yet for courtship.

–

Shapeshifter. One shadow falls from a tree in the cold night. lone drifter. Soon, more shadows follow it and drop onto the wet grass. man hungers

Shapeshifter. lone drifter.

Sometimes these shadows succumb to a late hunger. hope hungers
That eats away at the small viscera. a few less pairs of open-toes

By morning the hunger is burning like the sun on their modest bodies.

Hope feeds yet it deprives

Bound by a plumage of teal and gold, the morning figures rush headlong to the ground.

Man hungers as hope hungers

Only this time, their eyes glint graspingly scouring for prey,
Restraining the anxiety of returning empty and being eaten.

Shapeshifter. man hungers. hope hungers

–

Resigned to the tug of gravity, Summer wakes,
oh – i imagine
Endless horizons. All i see are the others stuck with me. Streams of humans flood to the woods.
Skies streaked with fire and velvet. Shrilling cries of ecstasy echoed in our peaceful nest. Slumber broke, my beautiful children awoke, the next
Sunshine of our lives.

Shimmering teardrops falling
Incandescent light peeping (the sunlight enveloping the empty room)
July you’ll be gone
with the dawn of a new day

Enough blue to last a hallucination,
Bright skies float my sanity.
Clouds morphing
Singular entities with a million possibilities
Sad are the slumberers when Staticness is merely a dream

Whispers of wind eating away at me
dancing under starlight the orb beams
Humans pray. hope stitches. we cuddle up, the five of us (in the photograph).

Spring rustles in, awaking flower pixies who
Sprinkle love in the air, secretly, mischievously,
Snickering those on Valentine’s Day:
Single Awareness Day.
Romantic notions masking
Ugly realities hiding
and our faint smiles
cropping out the earthquake, that loss heralds
Yet away,
hope shifts within
Away
Gazing upon the universe
Who am I? Shapeshifter. Wearily, the stars wink at us, blessed be.
a wistful glance at a shadow
which isn’t even there
any more

Waken no more from the hustle and bustle of life,
our Warm nest where We finally rest.

that soul lifter
Infinitesimal
yet infinite

***

by

Lee Ryce
Andrea Ng
Foo Sek Zen
Michelle Heng
Eunice Tan
Shuantae Ang
Amos Leong
Soh Wei Xuan
Blake Goh
Hilary Ho
Anekant Jain
Reynard Tan
Terrence Foo
Tang Xiaow Jun