Someone in my mushroom group has shared a video about cicadas
whose bodies have been eaten away by a fungus which keeps their
brains intact and the result is a video of a hollow, half eaten cicada
with no internal organs walking across a forest floor. There is a hell
of a lazy metaphor here but I will not take the bait. Not today.

Miguel, are you surprised in Spanish? You are
Languaged as threads
Of genetic letters and entry letters
Treading across the Atlantic, across
Generations of Miguels

Within the margins of this one-sided page,
I contort myself beyond bended knee.
All that I am boiled and stripped to the bone

for a bridge between now and a future
where interests converge, where we both wait:
you for able hands, and I on ones that feed.

The one the bungalow tai tais want to speak with.
The one who stress-tests the cookies behind counters,
conducts quality checks with a ruler and some stolen crumbs.
Measuring each logo, ordering gloss for copy.

You say that cheese placement was just too sloppy.
To say they’re paid peanuts is to overstate crumbs.
Counter each plea with I’m sorry, these are hard times
for us all. Cut the width of a life in six inches.

“After that bird slept for half a day, it woke determined to truly live.”

When the bird arose, his gaze turned towards the forest. A patchwork of emerald, gold and ebony embellished the grey heavens. He looked on dreamily, enthralled by the sight. There he stood rooted, lost in the moment.

CW: Body issues, self-harm

it starts/
the body undressed/
staring/small nose/fat
ass/small ass/staring/boys
don’t stare/with you/at you/
you’re pretty when you smile/

I never wanted to be noun. I could be
all sorts of verbs. Not -er
but thing-which: the thingness
contingent, happenstance. To be
the happening, a friendly gerund
around only as long as needed.

CW: Patriarchy

And they say I pirated my gender – this is not wrong, or legal. Downloaded the sway of my hips, photoshopped the noumenal tints on my lipstick, fed GPUs to my hair to render every single glistening, optical strand primed to glaze at and be gazed at.

And yes, Anurak, sex is boring.
But suppose in its writhing

a gnostic cadence –

some selfish conviction
of the body

as fulcrum

to a fuller universe.

CW: Border Law Enforcement

above all you want to belong. which means
to stand behind the yellow line – to be
the copy of the copy of the person
you want them to see.

between flesh and fingernail i once
began to dig, burying the images of

love i had seen. my home has grown
murky, forgotten by the many who

had known it.

We, as citizens of Singapore, pledge
ourselves to forget differences of race, language
and religion and become one united people; to
build a democratic society where justice and
equality will prevail and where we will seek
happiness and progress by helping one another.

CW: administrative violence, debt, financial precarity, means-testing

The bills have arrived and the sum ain't puny. With forms I must file for a thousand dues, the bills fill my heart with a lot of panic. They want me to pay every thing this week.

They will tell you the schools
you need to attend. Ignore
them—

this is the time to quietly build.

The day will come
when you who have helped to build our nation
will finally
get to sit back
on cushioned seats
toggle the aircon filter to your liking

And no, Auntie, I cannot help your friend’s
sister’s husband’s army encik’s cousin-in-law
get a divorce. Yes, lawyers are expensive.
No, I’m not charging you for my time this very

second. No, I’m not pregnant not married
and you wouldn’t know about my love life

CW: Profanity

Dear Johnny,
I hope this email finds you well / Because I don’t really care
In this trying time / But I have to sound polite

There are many ways to be false.
To communicate is to make available.
The public interest includes

preventing diminution of confidence
as specified.