THERE IS MUCH TO FEAR IN THE JUNGLES OF SINGAPORE

Monkeys, monitor lizards, snakes, skinks,
errant golf balls whizzing past one’s head,
giant bees, giant spiders, regular-size scorpions,
mud, falling trees, heatstroke,
fire ants, dengue mosquitoes, packs of schoolchildren,
auntie and uncle walking clubs,
my own bad choices, and definitely ghosts,
because everyone knows they hang out in the woods,
lost on their way to the afterlife,
sometimes caught in trees and totally unappeased
by my incense, prayers, and sorry excuses for burnt offerings.

Beth Bayley is a writer, yoga instructor, and occasional archivist who divides her time between Massachusetts and Singapore. Her work has appeared in Vox Poetica, Picaroon Poetry, and Neologism Poetry Journal, among others. Find her at bethbayley.yoga.