RETORTMAGAZINE.COM

WINTER CURSES

May the heated walls be relentless, pry
on your cold lies until
they shut their ears,
their patience tried.

May Love on your door knock,
disguised as a mocking beggar, dirt
on her snowflaked dress.

May you look down a fishing hole &
see a fair moon, wild stars.
Then, your own reflection.

May summer breezes warm you not.
In winter, everyone’s cold,
& you blazing hot.

Ma ever wrd yu wrte o te now los lettes.
:::::

BOILED FROG

The frog dies, doesn’t wriggle,
doesn’t make a noise.
It’s almost pleasant to look at now
in its flaccid, peaceful, boiled state.
The best way to kill you, I see,
is not to force pills down your throat.
Or undress you in the cold,
leaving you to freeze;
limbs frozen, penis small.
It’s not even to strategically place
your body on a busy rail track
to be minced by a roaring train.
You said you were a frog,
before my virginal lips
turned you into a prince.
But you lied. You still were.
:::::

© Tammy Ho 2010

Tammy Ho Lai-Ming is a Hong Kong-born writer currently based in London, UK. She is a founding co-editor, with Jeff Zroback, of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (link: http://www.asiancha.com). She often writes with poet and historian Reid Mitchell. More at www.sighming.com.