Skinwalking
by Liangyu Wu
She wakes up at eight, goes for a morning prowl
At Yishun Park, eyes the folks for their
Sweet vessels and soft skins but ends up
Just having breakfast at The Hawker Centre.
Kaya toast with egg and Kopi or Char Siew
Cyclist Bao? CHANEL, SHEIN, or a carcass? She’s begun to prefer the former choices. The monotony of air-con living, bed rotting, small business owning. Hell, she’s even started to play TOTO unironically. Singapore makes you a good person. And she’s not sure if that’s
a good thing. Before she knew it, Lady Bone Demon
Lost an appendix, sold a hundred dresses on Telegram, broke 5K on Instagram. The clothes stopped needing (unethically sourced) baby skin to sell, she stopped eating holy peaches and hasn’t hunted for a poor frail farmer since Mid-Autumn. She goes to Haidilao for her birthday instead of a day hunt for Tang Seng. She makes out with a bald businessman— The man-eating prospect is still there, she supposes. Stubs her toe, adopts two real parakeets and finds one real love, puts her bone hands on her cheek and neck and doesn’t think of Sun Wukong at all. Passes 10K On Instagram, shuts down her. business, has a baby, thinks about settling and kisses her man and
Catches him cheating with some
Chao Ah Lian, then wonders if she’s one too. Takes
A walk at Yishun Park and looks at the
Heavens with a strange new feeling, she’s always been Angry but not like this. Returns
Home and slices her boyfriend’s belly open before
Wearing his skin and eating his black guts.
He wakes up at eight, goes for a morning walk at
Yishun Park but ends up having breakfast at
The hawker centre. Kaya toast with egg and Kopi.
He eats it slowly with his now man mouth.
There is a metaphor here, she’s sure—
She stretches her mouth and pops an air bubble
Between her bone and cheek. And then, she has a weird,
Crazy premonition that there's a demon under her skin &
Wonders if it's normal, if the rest of the world feels
like it's encompassing
something other than itself, too
Author’s note
Lady Bone Demon: An English translation of 白骨精, a demon from the story “Journey to The West”. The demon originally is a shapeshifter, who changes into 3 separate unassuming villagers in an attempt to eat Tang Seng’s flesh, which bears the gift of immortality. In this poem, however, Lady Bone Demon is presented as more of a skinwalker, who takes the form of her victims, whom she kills and devours.
Yishun: A small residential area in Singapore.
Hawker Centre: Open-air complexes that house many affordable food stalls commonly found in Singaporean residential areas.
Kaya Toast with Egg: Singaporean breakfast dish.
Char Siew: Cantonese barbequed meat, usually pork, though other variations exist such as Char Siew chicken and Char Siew beef.
TOTO: A form of lottery sold in Singapore.
Haidilao: Popular Hot-Pot spot in Southeast Asia. Popularly known for their performative cooking and birthday specials.
Tang Seng: Tang Seng (唐僧) or Tang Sanzang, is one of the main characters of “Journey to The West”, a Buddhist monk and pilgrim. Constantly terrorised by demons as his flesh, when consumed, grants immortality.
Sun Wukong: 孙悟空, one of the main characters in “Journey to The West”, slain Lady Bone Demon. In this poem, it's suggested the two have a closer relationship for the sake of a fun-er poem.
Chao Ah Lian: (臭阿莲) Hokkien term, a derogatory name for Chinese women associated with a stereotype of having little education and operating within street gangs.
Wu Liangyu is a 15 year old whose currently attending the CAP Mentorship Attachment in Singapore. They write and paint in their free time. Their artworks have been featured at The Science Centre Singapore, Singapore School of the Arts, and will be featured at Singapore Art Week in 2024. You can find them attending panels at Singapore Writer's Festival, crowd surfing at Baybeats, and promoting their local festivals. They like bands like Black Country New road, and are the righteous hand of God and cannot be killed by conventional means. Liangyu believes that writers like them should not be allowed to write biographies about themselves.