Loss

I would never thought to
miss the kookaburra
woke me up at 5am
but I do today
along with other things
like

watching the fish swimming
in the water hyancinth filled
inground pond

reading by the crackling fire
under the shade cloth

the smell of lavender, rosemary,
basil and sage from the garden

Sunday roast
and the laughter
once a family gathering brought

although
they are not the things
made me feel like home
but today
just today
I do miss
them

Deep down

she shouted to the receptionist
threatened to hack us all in pieces
she screamed those words out
in a foreign tongue
her neck flushed with red patches
her hair had gone messy
her eyes were fueled with fire

in our shared language
I tried to de-escalate her rage by
offering her a cool drink
while clearly expressed to her
the options of
the police or the mental health team
if she was unable to cease screaming

she sat down
showed me photos of a hole
in her ceiling
and the water marks
resembling the world map
she told me
for six years
she have lived with ceiling leakage
for nine months
she haved stared at the hole
in the ceiling every night

she wept
for her man left her
the hole in the ceiling
is a constant reminder of
how her heart was broken
and it seems beyond repair

she is a tenant
complaining about
a repair and maintenance issue
she is a woman
suffering great despair
what is on the surface
is just the tip of
the iceberg

Irrational

when the sea breeze
blows through the curtain
and bekons me to be awake

I refuse to meet
its face to concur that
the sun is yet to set

it brings me
no new hopes
as it has been
for decades

my monologue to the void
through the land breeze
only makes its way to you
at nightfall

this is
the natural phenomena
I cannot transgress
then why am I still
endeavoring to reach you

張愛玲 《半生緣》

Overcomer

overcame being a perfectionist
was not necessarily easy

don’t raise your hand to
give answers if
you are not 120% sure

don’t comment on beauty if
you are not
drop dead gorgeous yourself

don’t write
in a foreign language if
you make grammar or
spelling mistakes

don’t dream if
you cannot make your
dreams come true

don’t even smile if
you are not perfect

don’t think about rejoycing if
you haven’t achieved
120% perfection

and please don’t laugh
and then tear up
because this
touches you

Breeze

You are like a breeze that
eases the turmoil
from
burning hurts

You are like a breeze that
wraps me around
in
sure security

You are like a breeze,
the most flirtatious of
all atmospheres

You are like a breeze that
belongs to
my
ocean pull

Rust

the sky is weeping
for the loss of
a loving mother
a supportive daughter
a caring friend
at the blooming age of 33

the wind is raging
against her murderer
a chameleon charmed his way
into her innocent heart
a fungi corrupted her being
eventually caused her to
lose her defence

she is lying in repose
a beauty covered in rust
like a tainted rose

Cane

she is
as slim as a cigarette
as slender as a cane

only he
sees her through the smoke
knows her aiding quality

while others
are addicted to her
desire her punishment

 

Impression of a couple books

To be honest, I haven’t read a book that left an impression for quite some time. Most books I have read in the last few years have been just for passing time. Once I had read them, I almost could not recall much detail.

There are two books are like gems. They are in different genres and presented in independent brilliance. I consider myself a serious reader, not in a widely read way, but in a focus on serious topics way.

l’insoutenable légèreté de l’être (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) by Milan Kundera.

amazon link cling here

It is a novel depicts characters we may despise according to our moral codes and yet they are us in the everyday mental struggle. It left me thinking long after I finished reading.

Notches by Mike Ennenbach.

amazon link click here

It is a short story collection filled with humour, heartaches, beauty and love. I have not been a short stories reader since secondary school. After reading Notches, I felt it was like a tasting tour in an ingenious writer’s mind.