Did a recreative exercise sometime back.
This is based on Carol Ann Duffy's
ValentineNot a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.
Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.
I am trying to be truthful.
Not a cute card or kissogram.
I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.
Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.
Valentine: Chili Padi Version Not a Ferrero Rocher or Godiva truffle.
I give you chili padi.
It is passion chewed to shreds
It promises fission
like the wanton unleashing of love.
Here.
It will blind you with tears
Like a lover.
It will make your tongue and mouth
a snivelling caricature of foreplay
I am trying to be truthful.
Not a neoprint or a sms declaration.
I give you chili padi.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.
Take it.
Its scarlet unguent dries into a half-healed scab,
if you like. Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.
*Chili Padi: the Devil's incarnate. Dried fiery peppers that pack a helluva heat.
Spin #2: Valentine: Cencaluk Version Not bechamel or a cranberry relish.
I give you cencaluk.
It is ectoplasm trapped behind a glass Berlin.
It promises headiness
like the first submission of love.
Here. It will gag you with spit
Like a lover.
It will make your mouth
a unpleasant slime of yours and mine.
I am trying to be truthful.
Not belachan or a sea coconut.
I give you cencaluk.
Its Judas' kiss will stay on your lips,
intimate yet foreign
as we are,
for as long as we are.
Take it.
Its moon-tinged flesh shrink to an angry lesion,
if you like.
Persistant.
Its poison will cling to your tongue,
cling to your heart.
*Cencaluk - Fermented shrimp sauce. An staple in many Asian dishes
