Be the Voice that Echoes
Sometimes the happiest moments in our lives are just good music
A drive, a conversation with an old friend
Hot chocolate while it rains.
Nature, as it unfolds before your eyes.
It’s lying on your back watching the sky
Some silence,
Soft, dreamlike moments
that come and slip away
Leaving us stunned, unable to describe how we feel.
12 people, 1 prompt: What do you look forward to every day? What gets you out of bed in the mornings?
The first birthday.
It was unsurprising the parents would throw a party to commemorate the special occasion. Cake, candle, presents, singing and clapping. Even if the tot of honour wouldn’t really understand what was going on.
I just wished I wasn’t strung along for the madness, but Mum insisted I went with it. Paid me handsomely to clam up the complaints and head down to the shops for something appropriate.
“I don’t think we should be endorsing this charade,” I said, but my protests fell on deaf ears.
“Your aunt would really appreciate this. He’s her first child, after all.”
The million-dollar question here is – Why are women still drastically under-represented? What is deterring women from running for office? Perhaps simply, politics isn’t a woman’s cup of tea?
By Natasha Effendy
the first sip.
this cup of hot chocolate
fills my belly and mouth
with an inevitable warmth,
making me feel so at home.
the second sip.
suddenly burns me
with nostalgia,
reminding me of
the first time i saw you in that cafe,
drinking hot chocolate.
the third sip.
the cocoa powder tastes bitter
across the expanse of my taste buds;
i grimace.
remembering you
makes me reach for the sugar,
but sugarcoating the memories
doesn’t do this drink justice.
the fourth sip.
i dip the cookie
into the creamy surface
but its other half
instantly breaks off.
a symbol of how we parted ways,
snapping my heart in half
with your filthy hands.
the fifth sip.
the hot chocolate
holds a bittersweet resemblance
to your milky brown eyes,
and recalling how they looked
pains me even more.
the last sip.
the final few drops
swims away from the china
and slips down my throat,
leaving my belly burning
with an unspeakable nausea
because my mouth is sour
from our expiry date
and i just can’t seem to stomach
that one memory
of you leaving me.
Part I
Feet in saltwater, head tipped to the sky, the screech of gulls ahead. Idle fishing pole gripped in your palms, disobedient fish swarming below the pier.
A call in the distance that sounds like your mother’s. You turn to holler back –
You blink awake to cool sheets, rat-tat-tat of a fan above. For a second you think you’re home and your brother’s about to rush in, banging at the door, but you know this grey ceiling, the university-issued closet in your periphery.
Coffee. Then consciousness.
We all know that when we talk about Australia, we’ll bring up places like the Sydney Opera House, the Twelve Apostles, Melbourne City Centre, the massive Uluru rock, and the stunningly beautiful Great Barrier Reef. These five national icons attract the lion’s share of its millions of tourists, and have graced the faces of about an equally large number of postcards sold each year.
Written by Rachel Goh
Five fingers
on each hand
make ten
yet, still,
they
fall short
of reaching
the cookie jar on the topmost shelf
the eraser in the nook between wall and desk
and
the hands extended to you
over the railing
your eyes say you’re tired
you’ve had enough
you want to let go
and
the wind tugs at your feet
tantalising,
promising
an eternal rest
yet, still,
these hands,
five fingers on each making ten,
seize and,
cling
on to that lifeline
you stretch a hand up
ten fingers,
five on each,
fall short
in the end
Alive
Written by: Mugilaa Selvaraja
When the hollow depth within you
Bursts into millions of flames
You’re awakened by your being
A heart thumping so fast
You feel alive
Gasping for breath
To know nothing can be
A better feeling than this
Here and now
Alive
The carte blanche present
In your very hands
For our last article of 2018, ECHO has decided at the suggestion of one of our writers, Natasha, to compile a series of passages from …