Discovering Dewponds
By L Kiew
Transcript: I amble out brief respite / silvered and still / dawnlight after nightbluster / ripping clouds that mottling / weather water’s abrade within / out to the wetness / in shallow indentations / runnels and trickles / cupped leaves slight weight / forgiving / ground where I dream / myself rotund and snouted / unlung from airbreathing / legs unbud to slip / in dark and globular / extend supple tail / moistcool flows over gills / am sunspot across silt
Alt text: A twin cinema poem in two columns.
Transcript: Left: “Here is animal: easily/ pinned to a board/ they aren’t believed/ thin skin/ is swift snipped/ they have no/ abdominal muscles/ to get in the way of scissors/ trivial/ a simple / flooding/ floats organs/ dark liver/ vessels, pink/ unset/ their remains/ and light reflected/ unnerves/ haruspicy.” Right: “pithed and / on their backs/ to feel pain/ loosely attached/ ribs, thick/ or excessive fat/ the cut smells/ of / model organism/ the dissections/ gently apart/ bright blood/ kidneys/ like seeds in water/ among the reeds lie/ the broken/ on glass panes/ the flensed moon’s/ unquiet.” Full text: “easily/ pithed and / pinned to a board/ on their backs/ they aren’t believed/ to feel pain/ thin skin/ loosely attached/ is swift snipped/ they have no/ ribs, thick/ abdominal muscles/ or excessive fat/ to get in the way of scissors/ the cut smells/ trivial/ of / a simple / model organism/ flooding/ the dissections/ floats organs/ gently apart/ dark liver/ bright blood/ vessels, pink/ kidneys/ unset/ like seeds in water/ among the reeds lie/ their remains/ the broken/ and light reflected/ on glass panes/ unnerves/ the flensed moon’s/ haruspicy/ unquiet”
Alt text: a poem porous with spaces.
Transcript: “What if (after Claudia Rankine): a tongueclutch how does one croak what if/ what does it mean a decision to live while choking/ if a body be galvanised jerking flailing flop/ what of cells contorting as frog rearranged strange/ leaps brightgreenleaf to muddied pool adjusts hue/ to match trusts to keep hidden what of biliverdin/ this lifetime conscious of skin what if melancholy/ is tadpole to malevolency what if metamorphs/ face stoneshut drownings harsh seasons’ haze/ what if to shout for change under imperatives/ is breathing in conditionals gauged deranged/ what if what we want from you is for us to be/ not slapdownflat sundrippedstilled saltrumoured/ which is your problem alluvial what if/ rage widejawed what if no longer eyeless/ underwatered what if estranged from marsh/ selves we can keep dreaming our song/ from antediluvian to ululation what if belief/ hops froglet stretches unclutches shoots more than tongue”
L Kiew is a London-based poet of Chinese-Malaysian heritage. She works as a charity sector leader and accountant. She holds a MSc in Creative Writing and Literary Studies from Edinburgh University. Her debut pamphlet The Unquiet was published by Offord Road Books in 2019. She was a 2019/2020 London Library Emerging Writer and L Kiew’s first collection More than Weeds was published by Nine Arches Press in 2023.
What would an angry frog call “your problem”? Three poems for Eco- on amphibians and becoming by L Kiew.