A subtlety, when noticed, is never too hard to
un-notice. Nothing like a dense summer,
collective sweat sheen, that brief vapour
all condensed into the scene.
Then, the soft prick;
frayed fabric hook with its sharp licks so
sporadic, so consistent.
A fleeting litany.

Many subtleties, when noticed, are never too hard to
un-notice. See, the thread caught on my sleeve,
scraping my skin, tickled to an anxious itch;
all inconsequential lint.
It is the sweat on a...

lithe sprigs, taffy-tinged;
one’s decadent desires all
sold for a fur wisp.
 

Sun hats, broad-brimmed and languorous, dip their tips into the sensual redness of the late-evening Sun as they return to the comfort of homes to be sweetly perched atop the racks. All clocks have pressed the hands of Time against the eighteenth hour, and yet a certain young lady remains entrapped within the nook of a lanky street, half-heartedly engaged in small talk.

Resting an arm on the coffee table, Shura props her thoughts up with a graceless effort, attempting...

CHARACTERS

In 2015,

WOMAN, 42, looking somewhat older, black hair almost always in a bun.
YOUNG GIRL, 15, lean and with the same black hair.
OLD LADY, 71, pleasantly plump, hair mostly silvered.

The scene is the living room of a flat in an HDB building¹.



SCENE I

A soft, yellow light fades into the scene, illuminating a round dining table. A ceiling fan begins to spin slowly. There is only a quiet whirring audible. The year...

“He says that life is round, that we’re stuck on this wheel of living and dying; an endless circle, until someone breaks it. You walked in here, you ruptured the pattern-----bang-----the whole world gets wider.” - Lucien Carr from Kill Your Darlings (2013)

and so it seems, the scientists
witnessed in graphite sheen, dull
chalk, the perfect length
of a crucible
perfect penciled circles

circumference of the not-yet-defined, the
undefined
held by tension-smitten
strings, pulling
a mass of metal things
...