Murder in Malacca
Wandering around vacant block by the Malacca Straits
A one-legged crow leads me to
A murder
Cruising flight unconcerned by his
Deformity
Towards the triumphant
Cawing as his companions crowd
Around unravelled wrappings
Of takeaway nasi goring
Still with plenty of rice
Clinging for life
To the paper.
__
Further down Jalan Melaka Raya
A stray dog looks forlorn
At the feasting crows
But he doesn’t attempt to
Drive them off.
Smart dog.
__
The road bends around the Strait
And hacked limbs are stacked
In neat piles
By the roadside
Under the shorn batai laut trees
All work stopping
(So it seems)
Except for the lopping
Of the trees.
__
Around the corner
Little black kittens
Share a tiny tin of tuna
Someone has left for them
In the middle of the street.
__
The streets
Are otherwise
Empty.
__
A row of Riviera apartments
Without tennants
And huge half-started building developments
Just more Covid-casualties
Dead dreams and fortunes
Stolen by circumstance.
__
Surely not the worst victims
Of the pandemic
But victims still
Within a sea
Of them.
__
Where did they all go,
To leave this place
To the cats
The strays
The crows?
About the Creator
Roderick Makim
Read one too many adventure stories as a child and decided I'd make that my life.
I grew up on a cattle station in the Australian Outback and decided to spend the rest of my life seeing the rest of the world.
For more: www.roderickmakim.com
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