Haruspicy

Published in the printed anthology ‘Making Space- A collection of Writing and Art’ (2023, Cart Noodle Press -The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Haruspicy*

Sheep’s livers, entrails:

a delivery to my room

fresh from the market.

I put them on two plates

and asked the haruspex to interpret

Sun God’s answers.

I paid, for two animals, 

the ceremony, 

for a simple ‘yes-or-no’, on Zoom.

There was no other way to fathom out 

what this Government would rule next.

Auspicious, inauspicious.

The haruspex was shrouded in smoke.

After checking the stinky content

on the first plate, 

he shook his head

came closer to the screen

and pointed at the second serving.

He examined it,

with eyes revolving as restless globes.

‘Inauspicious’, was the final verdict.

I steamed the soft tubular innards

on top of the bubbling water kettle, 

adding salt and pepper,

resigned to give up my own space,

and to be subjected to infinite rounds

of quarantine-approved hotels

till time will tell.

*In the religion of ancient Rome, a haruspex was a person trained to practise a form of divination called 'haruspicy' to discover the will of the gods according to the information gathered through reading the animals' entrails. I wrote this poem during a two-week compulsory quarantine locked in a hotel room in Hong Kong, during the Covid-19 crisis. Hong Kong and China were the only places where compulsory quarantine lasted for almost 3 years.