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Ronia Ibrahim

The jade-coloured belly of a fern frond


(In a story book)
the jade-coloured belly of a fern frond
is lapsing through someone else’s
earliest memory: lotus eyes
jasmine
becomes relevant later on.

(At the doctor’s)
unfurling my sleeve
releasing
a summer of hens.
Think of the colour you think about when you think about her
Think of the colour of the sunhat

  (In a forgotten dream)
she is bathing me in yellow dish soap
‘怎么可能?’ she exclaims
but I don’t know / I don’t know
the scene vanishes
like the evaporation of fish soup
like the black-glass eyeballs becoming
bony pearls among the radish
cracking in-between my aunt’s molars
and it ends with a lingering scent
laughter among drying lavender.

(The night before)
watching her expel chi
in front of the TV
burning Syria
illuminating her. 

(In a déjà vu moment)
the 阿媽 on the bus that looks like your own –
her lips are so similar to the feeling of
accidentally swallowing
a berry drop.


Ronia Ibrahim is a writer and interdisciplinary artist who lives in Naarm. Her poetry and non fiction have been published in Starling, Stasis Journal, The Pantograph Punch, Newsroom, Turbine|Kapohau, The Spinoff and Overland. She is very good at watching birds and making a mess.