English Language & Literature Creative Writing

A Flower in My Room

There’s a flower in my room. It’s petals, delicate time pieces. Always in full bloom, yet running out of time soon. People moving within those faded frames, some calling out my name.

“Joshua, child.”

“Do you see me?”

I drift along with time and close my eyes, living in some times again.

I close my eyes, a butterfly closing its wings. And I drift onto memory lane.

My eyes peel open.

Peachy suns setting into the horizon of my skin, memories start to swirl in my head. A cassette shot onto the emptiness of my brain.

In front of me, see a child. Faded with no dreams. Him just starting to open his flowery eyes, soft and delicate.

He knew no lie, just clear blue skies, paper aeroplanes and superheroes in disguise.

“Pew pew” “pew pew”

A few moments later, product: an afflicted heart. Inevitable cuts Necessary pruning.

My childhood innocence is lost. Lost to him who steals. What a cost.

The petals are falling asleep. An evil desire growled and sneered.

A cancerous flower with hot red veins, greatly feared.

“Snip snip snip”

Thorns are being cut off, a craftsman. I am being sculpted, prune and pressed. I would have wanted nothing less.

The future is uncertain. Do continue to grow or do wither?

Do stand firm or do I falter? Would I stay strong or snap?

A blurry road ahead. Fragments dreamt as they lay in front of me. Without meaning, a void felt like I was a dying star, collapsing into myself and exploding.

Not yet has it been filled with divine appointments. Forming certainly in front of my uncertain self.

Perhaps it’s best not to be afraid. He’ll do what he said. The blueprints have been laid out in the minds and hearts of those fragments.

I have traded places with the night skies before. Awake through the night.

In the surreal light, the tense nights.

My lungs unwilling to let go of wasted air. Believing no one cared. was twisting into a knot, being sieved with the sand. have felt whirlpools within the palms of my hand, like the veins of my palm were gathering into one place and formed a torpedo.

Utter hopelessness and confusion. have heard silent screams. Voices that shattered my mind and squeezed my insides.

The change around me scared me. But the change is for me.

Isn’t it?

The candles have been lit, it has been set up. Ready for action, and it’s now your time.

By Joshua Nai Yee Le (3E4)

Write and Burn! Challenge (Poetry Festival Singapore) Consolation Prize for Original Poem