Dominic Mah

V — (Taiwan 1996)

You had a moment laughing there where you made the elevator nervous. Maybe
it expected you to put your hand over your mouth. Maybe it resented being
called a lift like someone who finds you on the street. Elevators have many
rules and when you opened your mouth it slowed to a dewdrop, hit the stop
button, outed the lights, and the security camera's red gaze found the soap
opera story of the raven hair girl who lost her true love and was saved by a
dog.

 

It'll be a catastrophe. Imagine the end of life as you knew it. The ice
cream man you chased as a kid became a truck to collect all that sweet
garbage. All those cozy dripping buildings, covered smiles, infrared fruit
stands, racist toothpaste and cold bowls of chocolate flakes that hold me
together are blown to bits. (But somehow I'm still able to articulate the
difference between "corny" and "cheesy" to my student-of-English Korean
roommate.)We all agree that the alien queen on TV looks a bit like Wonder
Woman. But what does she look like on the inside? What if she's a woman
pretending to eat people. What if the second between a kiss and a couple
inches bite off the face she considers, dreams maybe. When she puts herself
together in the morning for marshmallow hearts how do you know if you're a
boy girl snake vegteterian alone or apart when there so many little pieces.