pre·co·cious

I broke down in tears, twice, while writing my latest piece.

The essay meant confronting many things I would rather forget: childhood memories of racism and more recent memories of unwanted sexual advances. Words are my way of fighting back.

Even before I started, I knew it would be challenging, intellectually and emotionally. My friends were trusting me with their stories. I wanted to do justice to not only our experiences but to the writers who inspire me: Alice Pung, Benjamin Law, Lian Low, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, Michele Lee, Julie Koh, Omar Musa, Ellen Van Neerven, Angela Serrano...

Now, to find a home for it (and inevitable edits).

I hope the next piece I write is more light-hearted. Even the fairy tales I wrote aged seven are somewhat macabre... formulaic but precociously, paragraphs! They appear translated in Seizure.

Also: a love song to lighten things, somewhat.

.....

The Pretty Goldfish

Once upon a time there lived a little goldfish and her name was Sarah. She was the princess of the ocean.

Everyday she would go outside and play with the another princess fishes. Then one day all her friends said that she was the prettiest fish in the whole ocean.

There was one fish which didn’t like to look nice. It was so smelly that everyone kept away from it. The fish which like ugly like it like that because it didn’t like people very much. And it was very mean.

Sarah wasn’t very happy with that fish. Till one day, Sarah told one of the bravest fish she could find in the whole ocean. She told it to tell the fish that didn’t like people very much that if it didn’t stop being bad some soldiers will kill it. So the bravest fish did it and the fish that didn’t like people very much change it’s mind.

And Sarah became the most beautiful fish in the whole ocean.

The End

.....

The Fairy Rabbit

Once upon a time there lived a rabbit. It was a female rabbit.

She wasn’t just an ordinary rabbit. She was a fairy rabbit. She had a fairy tiara, wand, fairy tutu and a pair of fairy shoes. She also had a pair of wings so she could fly and also had magic. Her name was Sally. She was a good fairy rabbit and she was the youngest fairy.

Everyday she played with her friend in the thick forest where she lived. One of her best friend was elf bear. One day when she was playing with elf bear, a monster came. Sally used her magic to kill it and it worked.

Elf bear was very happy. He told everyone in the whole forest. So Sally became the most powerful fairy rabbit in forest.

The End

.....

The Horse That Turn In To A Unicorn

Long, long ago there lived a horse. It was a female horse. Her name was Susan.

Everyday Susan galloped with her friends. One night a fairy godmother came and change her into a unicorn.

The next day Susan told all her friends about what happen to her. That night Susan and all her friends went to the place where Susan met the fairy godmother.

When they got there they saw the fairy godmother. Susan spoke up first while the others gasped in wonder. She said, “Can you please turn my friends into unicorn each?”

The fairy godmother who likes manners thought Susan had good manners so she decided to turn Susan’s friends into a unicorn each. As she did her spell the fairy godmother said, “May Susan friends turn into a unicorn each.”

Suddenly, there was a FLASH! Susan’s friends had become a unicorn each.

The fairy godmother thought that Susan and her friends didn’t want to be seen by other people who will kill them. So she asked Susan and her friends if they wanted to go to Unicorn Land. Susan and her friends said, “Yes.”

After Susan and her friends said, “Yes”, the fairy godmother put a spell for Susan and her friends to go to Unicorn Land. When they got there, lot of unicorns asked, “What is your name?” Others even asked, “Who are you?”

The unicorns said who they were and they came from. They became bestest of friends and they lived happyily ever after.

The End