Billie Holiday Yamato Drummers Grapes and Nuts / Nicole Lee

these baubles
these nipples of jade
that pop and explode and spill
their clear milk
in my mouth

these architectural ridges
these vegan triceratops
that run their spine
along the bone’s Amen!
like a cat

this chat
this dead woman’s voice
coiled up against
my drums
this tickling horn 

this breath this beat
this gleaming muscled landscape
these hoots
heart calls to heart
in caverns measureless

Nicole Lee was born in Kuala Lumpur and educated at Malvern and Oxford. She has worked as a banker in Hong Kong and London and now lives in Wandsworth, works in Kew and writes poetry. She has been published in various online journals and long-listed in the National Poetry Competition.