Hunger Desire
By Neong Chee Kein (Arthur Neong)
Within me is a hunger, desire
Do you feel it too within?
It is much like a craving
For chocolate, milky and thick
Or ice cream, cold yet tender (in room temperature)
Like soft, pak cham chicken
All cool and softened by heat
But still so fleshy and pleasing
To my mouth and teeth when chewing
Much like the cheek of fish, like a jelly pearl
That squishes, and the line of meat
From the crown of the fish’s head
To the neck (if there’s any) that bridges
To the body and fin
Tender flesh and cream
Past the lips around the tongue
Swirling within the cheek
Is the next best thing
pak cham – poached, in Chinese language, so that the chicken becomes tender
Arthur Neong is a Malaysian Chinese from Sungai Petani, Kedah. Having taught for 11 years, he now channels the maelstrom of thoughts and visuals into lines, hoping to make sense of it all. His works have appeared in Five Minutes, Particle, Borderless, Malaysian Indie Fiction, ZiN Daily, Alien Buddha Press, Eclectica, Eksentrika, Everscribe, Men Matters, Porchlit Mag, SARE, Tap Into Poetry and several anthologies namely: Chasing Sunsets, Malaysian Places And Spaces, and Contours of Him.