“Inside my glass walls
I used to feel I was all alone
_ Butas [peer into endless vacant eyes
Door.after door opens into other’s souls
— aioe Sy Giving glimpses of pain .
ne seas Of unsatisfiéd lives patched up
With -aids and glue

CattGine mornings

_ Paste

Plastic smiles on masked lives
Placing hope in each new day

But in the end its always the same

And I spiral in to despair as I see

My life played out in another’s

Eyes.

 

  
 
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
   

by Manjit Brar

WHY NOT?

And though I can’t see the shape of things to come
I’m learning to see the shape of things that are

Happiness, Pain, Escape.
There is magic inherent in
Everything.
We need to clear away
SAS Our cobwebs
come Tb see.
There is so much
Hard work
It may never
Happen this
Way again.

by Gweny Wong

TICKET T O ECST ASY

 

I just got you the other day
and I know I'll have you for a few more.
You're mine now
I own you
ve unless you’re no good
“es ol in which case I’d throw you out with the rest of the
a You are beautiful, though,
in an almost illegal, sinful way
Your colour - subtle pink - is the fairest colour on
someone like you I’ve seen in a long time.
Saying your numbers sends a shiver through my spine!
38-24-33
You've got other numbers,
but those are in more discreet places.
My mouth salivates
at the thought of what you can give to me,
and what you can do to me.
I think I’1l keep you close.
I'll fold you up and place you in wallet until the draw
Saturday night.
Wish me luck, my dear lottery ticket!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recs : i! by RachelYoung

x.

20th Anni Issue

More important than why? is why not? 4
Why? leaves you grasping at forces beyond your reach Crossing the street
Why not? helps you to accept that anything is possible a girl stops, midway
GOOG JOSt de edeuy as bade ne Are cs Sey et NS ee ee oe ey ae ae RE = aa a Sa ers
And accepting this allows you to swim with the current Ohh!
Rather than against it Zs,
by Kain Saliowe Arock dove is doing dizzy circles ‘

    
  
   
  
  
  
    
  
   
   
  
  
   
 
 
    
    
   
  

 

Celebrates

Creativity

as a bus pulls up and deposits*.
a fresh load of workers. ee

 

pivoting around on one iron weighted witig:
oblivious to the crush of traffic, ‘
caught up in a merry-go-round trip
of life or death.

Agrey, paint speckled worker also stops,
noticing the girldismay RE urease i
and he too watches

the dazed dance of the rock dove.

Honking

from behind,
adelivery van pulls up
pushing to get past,
but the trio remains
solid in indecision.

the man bends over with both
and picks up the frightened bird '
as one would gently, a golden
and deposits it tenderly -
on the sidewalk

Time pressures remembered,

girl and man

both head off their separate ways

ne eeeenteten neds

niztennenan Anes spes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the rock dove,

touched in love

tries his new wings.
trash of your kind.

 

 

 

 

8 September 3 1996 The Other Press