L Kiew

BUDDLEJA DAVIDII

What is my own              name? not that one
the French-Basque missionary’s and me
from Sichuan uprooted me collected
catalogued                             cultivated in foreign

soil What is my               name? commonly
escaped from gardens               listed invasive
labelled noxious weed What is my own
                                          name? wind-sown

making a home in               dry open ground
cracks in bricks by roadsides building
sites and in the aftermath of war
on bombsites broken railway lines

What is my own name? grows into
thicket butterfly bush summer lilac
bees’ amah shrub vigorous I own and
am arching I name myself                perfect

AVALANCHE

*
Almost is the longest word in English
with all its letters in alphabetical order
*
you left me
*
matterless
*
An ermine can hear its prey
********underneath************
************
a foot of snow
*
Day slushes and slurries *
* strewn leaves *
white with words
*
silver * * flurries
* flickers of flakes                            *
* snowdrops * slowly *
* * buried * in * snow *
* * * * *
Evening slicks the sky *****************************
A single cloud can weigh more than a million pounds
**************************************************
*********************************** more *********
*********************************** falls **********
*********************************** from**********
********************************** the ***********
                *************************** moon ********
                             ***********************************
                              ***********************************
                                           ****************************
                                           ****************************
                                                         *********************
*                                                          ********************
I stumble *                                          ******************
Night scatters me              ******************
a stone ********************
Under a cedar *******
*******
I can’t wait *********
Banging my head against the park wall *********
burns 150 calories an hour *************
I watch with waterless eyes **************
Light stuttering air buoyed ****************
*******************************
The tongue is the strongest muscle ****************
in the body * you can’t kill yourself *****************
just by holding your breath ************************
**************************************************
**************************************************
**************************************************
*************************** something has to help *

A Chinese-Malaysian living in London, L Kiew earns her living as an accountant. She holds an MSc in Creative Writing and Literary Studies from Edinburgh University. Her debut pamphlet The Unquiet came out with Offord Road Books in 2019. She was a 2019/2020 London Library Emerging Writer.