Final Week of April

I've often found myself wondering what the future holds. I like to daydream and envision myself on a stage of sorts, sharing art. I have not yet had the chance to verbalize my poetry or bring to life the melodies in my head, let alone share it to a large crowd. It has always been in the comfort of my own home, at the corner of my bed or the room where my piano is at. Even there, I let myself entertain those fantastic thoughts.

You may think that I'm always thinking about the future, and you're right. I always am, but even more so with the theme of orangepeel's eighth issue, aptly titled 'the future'. Without segue, I want to express my gratitude to orangepeel for accepting my works how great are nuclear bombs? and love at the end of the world. I pushed myself for this, because there's nothing else I've been ruminating on except for the future. And I also wanted to somehow channel my philosophies when it comes to the future. At the time I wrote how great are nuclear bombs, I had just seen Oppenheimer and that left a deep impression on me. I have also known of the risks and harms of the bombs, but I had not yet seen it in its terrible glory. And being a pacifist, I wanted to push an agenda of peace with religious themes. Why not combine the story of creation in Genesis and the nuclear bombs?

In an attempt (which I could say, turns out to be quite successful) to display my versatility, I wanted to share another poem set in the future. I've been head-over-heels, truly-enamored with this person at the time when I wrote love at the end of the world, some few years ago, and I wanted to highlight the destructive, seductive and inevitable power it had on me. I imagined myself under neon lights in a narrow alleyway, a truly neo-noir imagery, and I wanted to capture the momentary essence of the inescapable lust I had. Because, in my head, lust was inescapable and fleeting, only lasting for a minute. You know what else lasts for a minute? Apocalypses. Combine those two with the backdrop of a contemporary neo-noir landscape, and boom, I wrote love at the end of the world.

I truly am glad to have these piece published, because one was written specifically for the magazine, and the other was written beneath the secret of my blanket. It feels both vulnerable and amazing to see these pieces in a well-established magazine as orangepeel (what, with some 4000 followers on Instagram), and for that I am truly grateful and honoured.

And in another surprising turn of events, Tarot has accepted a piece I sent which I thought was for their ninth issue. But now, she must not drown again has a home. This is a poem that was very spur of the moment in the train. (I've been writing on the train a lot...) It's not cryptic, but it's very much straightforward, in the sense that it's a simple poem about ... something. Now that I think about it, there's a theme, but I don't know about it myself. But it's coherent, that has to count for something, right?

Also, before I forget, thank you also to Fleeting Daze Magazine for accepting my work why (not) me? for their second issue. This is a poem that means a lot to me, on a very deep level - perhaps the same level as like animals. This poem is based on a real event, down to the details and the numbers and the order of events. I was drunk one night, as one usually is when one is bored and stressed in university, and then I receive a text. Then, the poem is born. I think it's better to read the poem than rehash the story without all the good details. But yes, why (not) me? is a massive shift from what I usually write. From the style of writing to the point of view - everything is very different and very raw to me.

Wow, that was a lot. Thank God the year is not over yet, honestly.

You can find my updated list of works here.