The air, like always,
drips from upside-down
pig heads. Drips and drips
and coagulates. A basket
of dried seahorses is forgotten,
tumbles down, caught in a breeze
and ba noi’s velvet.
The butcher behind the glass: his cleaver
comes down, misses his thumb,
clips the wings off his breath.
The pinwheels keep spinning,
foil petals flash between moments
of price haggling and fruit weighing,
ba noi apologizing, and grand kids
jumping and snapping
strawberry Pocky sticks.
This air feels, unlike before,
full with all of me
and I of it.
David Ly is a writer, poet, and Master of Publishing student from Simon Fraser University. He has trained under writers David Chariandy, Anosh Irani, and poet Broc Rossell to hone his craft. He lives in Surrey, British Columbia. He is completing his Masters with a thesis based on Arsenal Pulp Press’ first picture book, The Boy & The Bindi.
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