Dream Interpretation

If one is born a boy — become a moth.
If one is born a girl — become a moth.
If one is born a son — become smoke.
If one is born a daughter — become fire.
If one is born a moth — become a girl.
If one is born a means — become a god.
If one is born a memory — become paper.
If one is born a motive — become a moth.
If one is born a gun — become a girl.
If one is born a mother — become a girl.
If one is born accused — become a god.
If one is born afraid — become a mother.

If one dreams
Of their mother, it means memory
Is over. It is now
Impossible to say if I was born.
The two witnesses don't talk. They don't remember
One of them
Lying there, pushing
The other one out. There is no blood
Between them. No one can say
I was born. I appeared.
Now that I haven't been born
I cannot dream of my mother.

If one dreams
Of their daughter, it means the gods
Have come to collect their dues. It is now
A field we're standing in
Looking at each other for the first time.
We don't recognise
Each other. We know in an instant
Who we are.
I know I am a girl.
You know you are a god.
You have come to collect me, and I am
Ready to be returned.

—

Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Vol. 22 No. 3 Jul 2023