We both know it’s easier between two beautiful people
We both know it’s easier when it’s a nice mountain mansion in Italy
with a shallow pool and a live-in adult-nanny
And we both know it’s easier since it’s summer with ripe-pink peaches
and nobody interfering without knocking
“He looks like he never has to work a day in his life,” your friend said
over Vietnamese coffee, while you are feeling despair, feeling ugly
(must be the weather’s blue)
“But how do you hate a movie this good?”
Since it’s as if the executive himself has come through the party crowds
to hand you the rolled-up movie poster:
“The whole thing, Hon, is tailor-made just for you!”
Even the father is very gentle and educated so you’re sure he won’t hit
Admit it: it’s always two hot dudes and neither of them looks like you
See how the camera cleverly pans away since everyone would agree
a depiction of a late summer night in Italy
is better than two guys making love to each other
“He’s such a reticent guy,” your friend spoke in defense of the director
“He’s even currently meditating in the west wing of the castle, considering a sequel.”
“Maybe they will have something fat next year,” another friend presumed
“If you put your money on this one.”
“His abs tastes like jelly,” another friend, the pretty one, texted
“If you want to date someone beautiful, be BEAUTIFUL first,” the pretty friend
texted again
But beauty in fashion is like rotten bread
It poisons your brain and gives you intellectual diarrhea
It drives you to think of death
And remember: this isn’t a story where a fat boy comes to love himself
and no longer finds nothing in the mirror
This isn’t a story where a fat boy comes to love every single blue on his body
This isn’t even a story where a Japanese girl is saved from a meteor crash
despite the similar title:
instead, it tells how one summer such love
strikes such boy like a meteor
(but thank you God, he can still play the piano)
Think about it: it’s most important for the silk-stocking middle-class
to discover that they too are capable of love
and also of adapting a best-selling novel
into a movie
and a movie
into a once-in-a-lifetime experience
since it doesn’t show at your homecountry or homecity or home.
Alone in a theater in Bangkok
you kept looking at your phone
waiting for this boy to call back, until
“Can you please stop with the phone?” said a Korean girl
three seats away from you
she later giggled with guilty pleasure so palpable
when the pretty boy thrust his obscure penis into the ill-fated peach
(the latter likely grew up with the story of the human gods, their holy teeth
sinking into him as his soul ascended to fruit-heaven)
If I were you:
Hey, in spite of everything
I do love food
I like my egg sunshine
my cake full moon
And I want you to stop peaching with my heart
“Pass my heart to, ugh, anybody,”
a late poet that I turned into an imaginary friend once cried
You are worthy of anyone’s time, you know
Some people like your look and personality
Even your mom
And do you remember your lost ID?
See, in the end, you found it
under the towering dirty laundry
Now you know which country you come from
which species you belong
to and even your birth religion
So you know who you are, I guess…?
That means he doesn’t have to call you
AL
or any of his names anymore
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones
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