Three Poems by Vera Chok
One
In the beginning there was there is
a starting girl point
Nipples
No one is ready. Someone speaks.
******(A shared universal humanity.)
Spotlight. The action of building. An unstable vertical structure.
Build, clamber, clammy, speak.
******That human beings are – at this moment, in history, into the future –
******fundamentally made of stuff that separates us from animals?
******Mother love, morality, kinship, caring. Creatures ranging over a spinning
******sphere suspended in space. Yesterday, today, into perpetuity.
******PerPETuity.
If we could reproduce like paramecia do you think that we would not, pet?
Hey, Perp! If we could reproduce like bananas do you think that we would not?
The banana (Musa accuminata) is a berry formed from a superior
ovary of three joined carpels arranged in an axile placentation.
The flowers are born and borne on long and pendulous
inflorescence that are usually unisexual, that is, the female flowers
are bored near to the base of the peduncle (producing the typical
banana berry fruits) whilst the male flowers board on the tip of the
same peduncle. Seed may be produced or more usually, develop
the berryparthenocarpically. Both the seeded and the
parthenocarpic berry are very similar in structure when flowering.
Placentation pendulous peduncle producing pathenocarpically parthenocarpic berry
Placard postman poostick puncture patchwork peabrain pleb
Wait. Bananas are berries?
*
*
*
*
*
Maps
There is a lot of air in the room
Blood-red trucks are good for being seen in on ice-bound islands.
Fogo is the largest of the islands off Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is Northwest of Musgrave Harbour, across Hamilton Sound, east of Change, 49.6667° North and 54.1833° West.
Fogo is thirty hours away from where I started.
The sea freezes around Fogo.
I’m fine with not the truth
This is what I think of
at the Crossroads of the World
Past Notre Dame Bay
A ferry from Farewell
Hamilton Sound Islands
North Dog Bay Island
Handy Harbour
Woody Island
Indian Lookout
Change
Fo
Go
Hearts break************Is
************************Land
*************every
************************Tilting
where
Strike a cold fork song into a blue sky day
Fling a tune into the sea
Sing
from your feet on Fogo
The clouds above keep us safe!
I have more freedom than I choose
*
Hobo stands for “homeward bound”**************The sea freezes around Fogo
*
*
*
*
*
Nothing is Really Difficult, or Princess
*
*
Tender is
black haired doll
arranges pans and clatters cutlery
Signorita dreaming
Set the sea to simmer, dance
swell like a heart swells
there’s emerald childhood grass there
burn tongues swirl
talk and sing with silk
embroidered bandits, rabbits
principessa
seven nights a week*************************************none of this is mine
wind blurs us
scenery adapts
f*l*o*a*t*i*n*g
w*h*i*t*e
laminate
principessa prin prin principessa prin prin principessa
principessa principessa princh principessa
~
~
Vera Chok is a writer and performance maker. Her prose and poetry has been published in, among others, Rising, The Guardian, and The Brautigan Free Press. Forthcoming work will appear at The Roundhouse in Camden, and within the inaugural edition of the BareLit anthology. Vera contributed a chapter to the award-winning collection, The Good Immigrant.
Éphémère is a concept; two visions of the same sphere. Both are multidisciplinary Mauritian artists—designers and illustrators—influenced by nature and culture. They attempt to convey a part of their dream-like, somewhat playful world through their art and products. (Photo credits: Céliliphotographies)
