June 2023

Bedside reading

I am about to turn six in this memory. Recently, my little brother has started joining my father’s bedside reading. Whenever my father is at home and announces that his bedside reading is happening tonight, both my brother and I shuffle to our bedding together. It is a new thing because earlier, my brother used […]

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Panties on the washing machine

Down in the basementOn top of the washing machineAre black pantiesClean and forgotten Why nobody picks them upIs a wonderSince they sure belongTo somebody in the house What might have they thoughtUpon finding their panties hereIn this dark basementThat made them decide not to retrieve them? Did they not like the idea ofTheir garment having

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The brown woolen muffler

In this memory, I am five years old. Recently, at kindergarten, my friends and I are into something called spool knitting. One day, our teacher taught us how to do it using a piece of empty milk package and disposable chopsticks. She gave us each a ball of yarn, showed us how to span the

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Ramune Contest

The summer when I was seven, I participated in my neighbourhood’s tiny summer festival hosted in the park near my house. It was the first summer I spent in this new suburban neighbourhood, and I wasn’t particularly excited. I was still missing my old community of tiny half-dilapidated apartments, and in my mind, nothing in

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Mimicking Performance

In this memory, I am five years old. My father likes reading books whenever he is at home. He usually starts reading his book seated on the couch of our tiny half-dilapidated apartment. But since its rock-hard surface is not exactly comfortable, he slowly slides down, and in no time, he is lying on the

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See you

I want to see youSo I go closeBut when I’m closeI cannot see you I know you’re closeYou’ve seen meBut now that you’re closeCan you see me? Is it true thatThe bottom of a lighthouseIs dark?Then I’ll try something else I’ll step awayTo find your light againSo that I can see youAnd you can see

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When I ran to a surprise visit

The first year I entered primary school, I had a very kind and loving female teacher. Not just me, but everybody in my class adored her. So, when she left us for a maternity leave at the end of the school year, and a substitute teacher was assigned to our class for the new school

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Squeaky Mystery in the Night

In this memory, I am five years old. In the playground in front of my apartment block, there is a basket swing which my two best friends and I play on all the time. Two of us move the swing fast while the last person sits inside the swing, trying to maintain her balance. This

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A Lonely House

There is a house on the streetOld and forgottenBetween rows of shiny new condominiums No one knows who lived hereOr how long ago it wasBut the house seems to say something It cannot be seen during the dayBut in the night, you will find itAnd you cannot help but stop Because it is telling a

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