Daryl Lim Wei Jie (b. 1990)
SELECTED POEMS
Singapore Pastoral
The crows are muddied
with the scent
of the freshly burnt deadAround the corner
the boys rehearse the conquest
of our regional partnersThe rumour is it’s earmarked
for a spaceport, or sex tourism, despite
the swarms of mosquitoesWorld wars are ways
to avoid cremationGrandpa used to tell us
how it always smelt
of pigshitThe last tiger roams
with incredibly low
cholesterolAn old man drowns, feeding
the reeds, which we will use
to make our rice blue
by Daryl Lim Wei Jie
from Anything But Human (2021)
