What is one thing you can’t live without?
View all responses
I answered yesterday’s blog prompt with a poem, and I had so much fun writing it, I thought I would do it again today. Poetry is the form I enjoy most. I like how just a few lines can hold a big, messy part of an experience.
For the past couple of months, I’ve been writing short stories and flash fiction set in Sarawak. These little poems have been a way to take a break from those drafts and play with words again.
Today’s prompt asks: What’s one thing you can’t live without? My answer is in the poem below.
Paper and a Pen
I wrote “I am angry”
and crossed it out.
“I am tired” would be easier
to write where someone
might see it.
A pot sat waiting
in the kitchen sink.
It was crusted with dried rice
from a dinner
where I had said, “It’s alright.”
I had carried the plates,
wiped the table
while Yoo Jae-suk laughed obliviously
in Running Man.
Now the pen hovered.
Even alone, I was choosing
what would cause the least trouble.
I wrote “I am angry” again.
The words felt stupid
for something that had kept me awake.
No one asked, either.
I pressed the nib hard
against the page.
The blue ink bled
through to the other side.
Then I stood to wash the pot.
Cold water ran over the rim
as the kitchen window
turned pale in the grey dawn.
In a few hours,
I might be ready
to explain it all away.
I am reasonable.
Paper and a pen
are all I need
to find what I meant
before I do.
I write about Iban culture, ancestral rituals, creative life, emotional truths, and the quiet transformations of love, motherhood, and identity. If this speaks to you, subscribe and journey with me.
