let me record these moments
as I lay on your lap, perusing a novel
as you watch a drama with
my peripheral eye
on the protrusions of your face;
as I stand behind in silent awe
struck by your unexpected robustness and
watching your shoulders flex and
the sweat caressing your papery neck;
as I walk beside you
with hands intertwined,
I picture you
fading into nothingness:
like a washed-out photograph,
a millennium-old oil painting
with a blurred layer of grime
missing its most crucial
subject.
Oh, it is agony to wait,
I’d almost wish you gone already
but what I cannot bear more
is a reality of your ephemerality.
deep dark fears
some
I have:
that in the middle of the night
I’d open
my palms
leave it
outstretched
someone would take it
pull me
into another universe.
or that in the brightest of days
bright stars
pull you
like moth to flame
I’d watch
helpless
watch you leave me.
I’d lose you indefinitely.
Excuse me, exactly why am I in this position?
I detest you
saying that we are
duplicates.
We’re not the same –
smoking cigarettes,
sniggering at poor women,
throwing ignominy and condescension,
exchanging them for three tissue packets.
I do not.
Overbearing arriviste,
a man with
an arrogance of
five-foot-nine.
I am not, period.
Yet I find myself in
the unfortunate position –
overly, rashly, merely
vixenly,
I am.
Maleficent pales in comparison.
I breathe
a postulation
only to choke as I try
to formulate air into sound.
Nanyang Technological University's
Hall Olympiad Closing Ceremony (HOCC) 2019 | Natsukashii
Sometimes all it takes is a smell, a sound, a photograph perhaps, to bring us back to good times of unadulterated celebration and cheer; where a posse of ladies flitter and flap around the dressing room, primping in front of vanity mirrors as their diamonds sparkle and gowns shimmer. Meanwhile, their impatient male chaperones with sleek hairdos and spiffy suits josh around.
The air swells with anticipation and expectations of bootlegging and promiscuity as the hotsy-totsy rhythms of the music seizes one's attention. Don't look away. Ride along, feast your eyes on them as they welcome you to the Roaring Twenties.