Violence

The vine-covered walls imprison sounds
the cobbled ground barely makes sounds as
the boy walks slowly through the street.
It is midday. The boy looks up, in contrast with
the mud-coloured walls, dusty brown road
the sky is an open sanctuary. If this is a dream,
it doesn’t feel so bad to die in a sleep but this is life.
Red pomegranates in a plastic bag, a football
under his left armpit, short cut jeans
a shirt white as jasmine, a smile and a quick dash.

      These all
           “A boy killed —” one headline says
                                                   cease to exist

Violence creeps like termites devouring wood

until only faint traces of the living can be seen
the headline doesn’t say this:
                                      “A boy is in a sanctuary.”

I Could Really Use

I could really use
lying on a beach
feeling the damp sand
on my back
tasting the salty breeze
on my lips
I could imagine
the heavenly bodies
twinkling relentlessly
against the night sky
were a million ships
shifting slowly across
a vast dark ocean
I lie there
I stretch my two arms
two majestic wings
and I soar aimlessly
above the ships
that is what I feel
body on the ground
head over the clouds

A Bear

I made this as one of the décors for my hostel room. You won’t burn your pockets making one. The things that you need in creating this décor frame are a cardboard frame, superglue, a string, a puncher to enable you to hang the frame, and some decorations. For this one, I use a teddy bear keychain (with the chain removed), a wooden letter (A to represent my name), a printed map of constellations as the background, and two little wooden hearts. It doesn’t cost more than RM15. Hey, you can be creative in every way you want to.