Arthur Neong | Mediterranean Poetry

Arthur Neong is a Malaysian Chinese. Having taught for 11 years, he now delineates the maelstrom of thoughts and visuals, hoping to make sense of it all. His works have appeared in PoArtMo, WayWords, Tiffinbox Review, Eksentrika, Particle, Men Matters, Everscribe, Porch Litmag, Eclectica, Tap Into Poetry, SARE and elsewhere.

Greek in the East

I have never been to Greece
I have learnt of it in text, video
Forms of literature shifting like
Ancient gods and goddesses
The way I shift transformed by
Greek history now modern
An immortal pantheon on its own

Here we have Zus coffee, its logo
Resembling Zeus the top god himself
Or a shepherd from Ethiopia as the company
Later clarifies, the one who discovered coffee
Noting his goats display more energy
The way we want more energy
In Zus is zeal, and in the god, lightning itself

Here cafes abound
There’s not enough cafes to go around
There’s not enough coffee and food to go around
We feast on good food and drinks like an orgy
Without the orgasm

Hercules taught me it’s not about the size of your strength
But the strength of your beating heart
Though the real truth of the story is more cruel
Yet still shows me that gods too, like humans
Are jealous like possessive lovers and parents
I learnt about true sacrifice too though
Yet how selfless sacrifice need be

Here we have our islands though
No clusters like Greece
Only in Java Indonesia
There is no Circe
But I have heard tell of lotions
Rubbed on your skin
Render you motionless like dolls
Prey to anyone
Even on a boat at sea

Deep in the jungles
No nymphs masquerade as trees
But from the half-mist of dreams
They may yet manifest
Offer a visit to their island of lore

In our calm seas may dwell yet gods
And creatures the likes of sirens
And hydras
Even krakens, who are not Greek in nature but
Aren’t we all mostly related?
Kraken being a sea monster in any other name
Floods rise up from our clogged land every year

Our sailors have sailed to China, India
Madagascar, to Australia
We too came from
Taiwan and the Phillipines
The art of seafaring, while unknown in its origin
Has perhaps been passed down, and around
Word spread through trade
Who’s to say Greek influence
Hasn’t reached the east
Via sea?

And in our tropical sun
I could only imagine us Hermes
Flying too close to the sun
Burning ourselves but our thick hide loves tan
Seared dark lovingly like aburi
We get drunk with heat

Still one day I yearn to go to Greece
See its place in our story
And mine
See all these footholds in our history
Then imagine

Diet

I used to eat a lot of veggies and fruits
Less red meat growing up
Less pork and beef,
Even not as much chicken and fish
As I should
I grew up tiny
Not so tall vertically
Then I steadily put on weight
From college years to my career
From my 1st girlfriend to my current wife
Somehow it steadily increases
Following my year of age
From 50+ to 80+ kg
In 20 years
30 kg in 20 years, the gain is greater
Than the year, too much flesh
And not enough wisdom
Not enough hard fibre to rein it in
Fat in flab
If only I could bring myself to eat healthily
Like how they espouse in articles
The Mediterranean diet
Extra virgin olive oil, fish, fruits, veggies
All the colours, even dairy and yoghurt
And cheese are fine, so long as they’re
Low-fat or skim
And the time of the day
No heavy meal past 8
Coffee and tea
Maybe afternoon siesta
Instead I’m sleeping late at night through the morning!

Perhaps less beer,
And more wine?

I hope it’s not too late to start
A change of diet for the heart!