Look Ma, I'm a Writer!

She watched through
blurry eyes, this
reality cooking
show on the telly, which
she never was a fan of
before. But now,
with everything
going on
in her mind, she found
it interesting.

The challenge: Make
the bitter gourd palatable
to those who hate it.

And seeing one of these
would-be Master
Chefs washing his bitter
gourd, hunched over the
sink, she slowly
felt waves of
sadness, like running
water washing
over her, the
bitterness sinking to
the pit of her stomach,

She watched the chef
boil the gourd
in saltwater,
to lessen its bitterness,
but the taste of salt
in her tears
did not lessen hers.

The chef took
the boiled gourd,
and with his sharp
kinfe, sliced
it thin, with
deft, deliberate
strokes, as she imagined
parallel bleeding strips
if she applied the
same knife strokes on
her wrists.

And finally, with
time running
out, in
an act of desperation,
the would-be
Master Chef tried covering
the bitterness in a sweet
caramel cover.
But she knew this chef
would lose the challenge,
for no amount of sugar-
coating can conceal
the bitterness
hidden underneath.

He had tried all the amusement

Scientist Hangs Himself After Groundbreaking Discovery
Arizona State University – Police found senior faculty member Dr. Andre Brody hanging dead in his office yesterday morning after a phone call from the head of campus security. Dr. Brody became famous after the publication of his paper on "fetal microchimerism".

Dr. Brody's fiancée, a single mother, was devastated by his death. "This has been a very tough ordeal for me, and especially for my son, who has grown to love Andre as his real father," she says. His fiancée's 10-year old boy, though not his biological child, was chosen by Brody to be his best man for his wedding scheduled next year.

"Fetal microchimerism" discusses the phenomena of "fetal cells", which are cells from the fetus in a mother’s womb that leave the placenta during pregnancy or soon after birth, and take residence in different areas of the mother’s body. That means a mother has her child's cells within her, and can stay with her for up to three decades. (Associated Press)

***

Suicide Note of Dr. Andre Brody
O, I write this letter
with a heavy heart,
knowing that in my experiment
I have not only proven that
all mothers are chimeras,
but also that my fiancée
has the DNA of her ex
inside her.

He thrust all of them inside,
the skeletons–each and every
broken and brittle bone in the body
–skeletal systems in shambles, shoved
haphazardly in the tiny
confines of the cluttered closet,
which he then forced shut,
padlocked, and bolted.

A skeleton should
remain where it
belongs: buried,
hidden, forever
trapped in a tomb,
as it should be,
never to see
the light of day.

But he forgot a couple
of things about this closet.

First, it was not
a soundproof closet.
Once in a while,
the shifting bones would
create a clattering
noise that would
bother him.
Second, it was not
an odour-proof closet.
Every now and then,
a whiff of decay
would cause him to cover
his nose at the foul
stinking stench of his skeletons.

was projected on a gigantic
outdoor screen, viewed
by a stadium of
Filipinos – all classes
considered – the velvety-
soft skin of the wealthy
sweating side by side
with the dry
sagging skin of
the have-nots.

The hot, humid, heavy
air ignited
the passion of the
crowd, cheering
the Filipino boxer
with every punch
landed, thrown
with the collective force of
98 million fists.
But the dripping
salty sweat from
their brows blinded
the punches
thrown and landed
by his opponent.

But in the
month of May,
the Philippine weather
was as unpredictable as
any true fist fight.
After ten rounds,
dark clouds began to loom,
and by Round 11
the crowd sadly watched
their national hero outboxed,
with the skies growing darker
and darker, threatening
rain on a parade
that would most likely
be cancelled.

By the twelfth and final round,
the Filipino fighter’s fate
was sealed. The loss
of the biggest boxing match
in this or the next lifetime
was a loss carried
by all Filipinos everywhere.
As the time faded closer
and closer to the final bell,
the May weather manifested
itself in an unusually
strong summer rain shower,
which helped to
secretly hide the tears
of an entire country,
who cried in defeat
yet wept like winners.


*ASC, QC. 3 May 2015.