Christina Sng's Official Poetry Website

MOON

Pearl in the sky,
Hanging from
The cosmic clothesline,
Sunning all your craters
They are quite dry.

Your neighbours,
A cloudy aquamarine
With swirls of activity
And a quiet red ruby,
Sitting placidly,

Like you,
Traversing the sky
Silent,
Save for
The occasional woosh

As young Hailey speeds by
With his tail on fire.
He cuts a path,
Bending the stuff
Your skies are made of.

The wake
Reverberates,
Bounces against
The other end of the wall
But you don’t feel it.

Maybe it doesn’t exist at all.

–
Copyright © 2002 Christina Sng
“Moon” originally appeared in Hadrosaur Tales #13 in April 2002, and was reprinted in Kisses for Kids in December 2002.

TIME TRAVEL

The stars fly,
Huge behemoths
Whipping past.
Galaxies look like
Streaks of rainbow light,
Crayon scratchings across
The chalkboard universe.

Time rewinds,
An old videotape spinning,
Spiralling into an implosion
Back to where nothing belonged.

–
Copyright © 2002 Christina Sng
“Time Travel” originally appeared in Hadrosaur Tales #14 in June 2002, and was reprinted in Kisses for Kids in December 2002 and in the anthology Portals in June 2003.

COCOON

I’d like to stay in my cocoon
For as long as I can, till
Hunger cripples me and
Expels me from my shell.
My insides have long been
Cut open and slurped up
By some ravenous god.
lt has left the head alone,
Hoping perhaps it will regenerate.

The chill is paralyzing -
You have known that-
Yet you left me drifting
In the sand dunes,
Parched and dried, my skin
Unfolding in the lacerating wind.
When the dusk finally falls,
I rustle softly as I pass you,
Standing proud ln the dust.

–
Copyright © 2001 Christina Sng
“Cocoon” originally appeared in The Edge, Tales of Suspense, 2001, and was subsequently reprinted in Poetry Life and Times, 2001 and Vacancy, 2003.

POSTWAR

The scent of burnt flesh
Seeps into my pores.
They are burning the corpses.

I venture an open eye,
Scan the war-beaten horizon
Which boasts only

Of charred bodies and corn stalks.
Beside me, a child lies curled,
Holding her cat in her arms.

She looks at me, eyes wide
As I scoop her up and dash across
The barren field into our shelter below.

Safe, she asks for my name,
And exchanges it with hers.
Her cat’s name is Perry, she adds,

And her parents are dead.
I ask if she knows what has happened today.
How our people were crushed in their iron fists.

She nods and asks,
The humans have won,
Haven’t they? Yes, I say.

And I lead her into the sewers,
Our new home, where she summons Perry
To catch us some prey.

–
Copyright © 2001 Christina Sng
“Postwar” first appeared in The Pedestal Magazine in 2001. It was reprinted in my first poetry collection The Darkside of Eden in 2002.

CHILD OF THE PORCELAIN LINE
for Amber

Little chime, little girl
Your natural tan skin
A surprise to the porcelain line.
You have followed your father.

In my arms
You shine like gold
A stark contrast
A fish belly arm.

Sustenance comes
From a pearled breast.
Brown paw waving
To your father

Who smiles, white teeth,
Yours, forthcoming
A relief to your
Porcelain mom.

–
Copyright © 2001 Christina Sng
Child of the Porcelain Line was originally published in The Journal #2 and written for my niece Amber when she was born 10 years ago today.