"Clear Soup", Gerline Lim
i.
is queuing in the hot sun -
chickens turning black,
feet slowing into turtle’s,
tummies churning like pig’s stomach,
all waiting for the boiling promise,
in sweat.
ii.
is a riot, slabs of ribs
of wet market;
cutthroat, bloodshot eyes, scales
shifty on watery floor; bowel
catches the nose off guard,
eyes water
while practiced hands, a dialect,
loudmouth wisdom
exchanged.
iii.
is medical hall,
a cure to Gu-Gu’s scaly skin;
a seahorse brew
like rotten nail ripped off from toe,
starved to be drained from its poison smell.
iv.
is pork-ribs soup
meeting German office,
colleague airing office,
a tell-all wobbling of Sülze
against frog-legs porridge that pales
next to boiled blood sausages.
Let pig’s organs soup meet saure Kutteln.
Who wrinkles whose nose now?
NOTES
Sülze: German meat jelly.
Saure Kutteln: sour tripe, German braised tripe