Secrets

As I walk in wide-eyed wonder, I explore the soot-filled nooks
Unravelling the secrets of life through untold stories
And every fragment of what was brought together
Makes me wonder what brought me to life
The blossoming sexuality, the natural boisterousness
And unfulfilled desires of every human being I meet
On their quest for happiness

Amidst moments of hurt, hate, and heal
While preserving their traditions
Under the onslaught of modernism
Triggers my opinions on personalities and characters
And like shockwaves of panic in a dystopian drama,
I discover the meaning of human nature
Its novelistic details, the filtered perspectives
The strictures of patriarchy and the struggles of matriarchy
It's like a comedy laced with cruelty between rain-soaked epiphanies
The comforting words, ingenuity, the barbed jokes
And the truest opinions from the boldest of souls
Souls that fight to stay alive, that march to stand their ground
Souls that gives witty commentaries
On love and loyalty, money and social classes
On races and religions, dilemmas and conundrums
And on my occasional slip into the realm of melodrama
I realise that life, with its mishaps, is just a practical magic
A drunk night of fries and margaritas
A middle finger protest and feminist treatise
An epic journey alongside a broody convict
And at times, an opportunity to sink
Into the psyche of a single-minded survivor
A singular vision and an individual suicide
But how true are they - these secrets of life?
And how perceptive are we with one secret after another?

-PRK-

Antistupid

And so I walk down the streets
Listening to the unhealthy cultural beats
Where the human race failed to recognise the difference between being racial and racist
Between desperation and dishonesty
And watching them feed each other with so much hatred and disgust
And I just walk pass them, sniggering at their immaturity and stupidity
Not saying my his or my hellos
Ignoring their phony act of kindness and shiny halo
For I am not antisocial.. I'm just antistupid

-PRK-

She Found Peace

They told her,

"Breathe, and get your mind off it.
Sleep under the star, don’t let your mind lose it.
Accept imperfection, practice mindfulness.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, and live with no regrets."

And so she remained cool, remained calm and let them drool
Acted fooled when they claimed she’s under-ruled
Such depression made her lend a barf
Turned her head around, whispered,

"That's enough."

And so she took a bath by the candlelight
She meditated by the neon light
She let her feet take her towards the pink strobe light
Smiled when she saw those idiots slipped by the mountainside

And she thought,

"Oh, they were right. Be present in the moment, leave the past aside."

And so she found the good in all situations and laid on the grass
Embraced her freedom and held her head up with class

-PRK-

Adat

Katanya tiada laut yang tidak berombak
Juga tiada gunung yang tidak bergaung
Dan cuma yang cekal mampu memberontak
Haram bagi mereka untuk duduk termenung
Kerna adat bernegeri, memagar negeri
Adat berkampung, memagar kampung
Dan bagai ular dalam lagundi
Adat mereka tidak bisa dilelong

-PRK-

That Arranged Marriage

It's all Greek to me in its infancy
Letting nature take its course; a date with destiny
Damned if I do, damned if I don't
In a den of iniquity; halfway decent and be damned on my own
And my drunkenness diluted in foreign liquors
My scruples thawed alongside such rigours
A command performance so peculiar
Cruising for a bruising in the whole hemisphere
For there is no evil neither mercy
Neither sinners nor such divinity
There is only justness and impropriety
Two-chambered in somewhat a unity
So when the drape falls, I shall be quick to take a bow
Re-create a mannequin sprawl as opposed to a beau
For it's an alliance free of rupture
Should such emotion arise, nevermore will I miscarry the utter

-PRK-

The August Plot

Though the voice was somehow silenced

The soul was resilient

As the wish was obeisant

And the act was independent

Despite the stifles

The wrathful riffles

Gushing through spirals

Playing against the snivels

Flouting the agony

Drowning the ecstasy

Murdering the spawns

Mistreating the fronds

Still the shrieks were garish

The riles were robust

Engrained fear in our nemesis

Smothered them, brewed them powerless

Happy 57th Independence, Malaysia

-PRK-