low-key love

I've been working on Low-key Love, a zine on falling in love, for Sticky Institute's Festival of the Photocopier on Sunday 11 February at Meat Market. I'll also have Echoes for sale.

I first performed 'How to Find a Husband in Aries Season' at Emerging Writers' Festival 2022 and subsequently published it as a zine. I read an abridged version at Verb Wellington's Lit Crawl last year. Thank you Starling for inviting me to be a part of your beautiful, beautiful event~~~ 'Twas full of heart. Thank you Louise, Francis and Khadro <3

A lady in EWF audience had the audactiy to LAUGH at: Five days after you meet, he has his wisdom teeth taken out. Think, 'If you could, you would bear half his pain.' Distracted (and mildly offended), I said into the mic, "It's not funny!!" I REALLY FELT THAT WAY.

'Shades of Longing' is an ongoing project. This version was published in 4A Papers Issue 11: Intimacy, which was edited by Neha Kale (dream editor! dream theme!). I love how Neha describes the piece as tracing 'the first breath of a long-distance relationship'.

'Like an Egg on a Spoon' was commissioned by Clare Carlin for Textile Message, a gorgeous series of essays on clothes and other textile objects. I wrote it in London mid-2023.

Dedicated to dearest Kiet, who inspired these stories and many more x

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A few of my favourite lines:

Tell your manager you’re in low-key love. Tell your friends. Tell your favourite barista. Tell booksellers. Tell the girl who sells you macarons.

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Book a hotel. Say, “Happy two-year, I mean, two-week anniversary.” After sex, dinner and dessert, lie in bed listening to music. He catches you peeling skin from your big toe and laughs, “Oh my god, we’re so domesticated.”

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I was drawn to Liliane Lijn’s moving sculpture, Liquid Reflections (1968)—the dance between the two orbs on a rotating disc, their shadows on the wall, the gentle clack they made on contact. The small gesture made me think of you, how you had come into my life, then bounced to the other side of the world.

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To be in a long-distance relationship is to be constantly yearning.

We leave something in a room for each other to find.

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Once, I tried to brush a hair from your cheek, forgetting the glass screen between us.

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It’s easy to write about falling in love. It’s less easy to write about day-to-day love.