shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Bio


Born and raised in Singapore, Valerie Ang is a student of LASALLE College of the Arts' MA in Creative Writing programme. She is the author of the Magpie Ballads, published under the pseudonym Vale Aida, as well as the proud owner of a three-foot stuffed whale.


Valerie Ang


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Self-Portrait

This house is not a paradise, love–say
you will not come inside. There is a beast
behind these walls, between the atrium and
aorta. Horn and tooth and thistlehide,
a minotaur that haunts this labyrinth.
And so I painted all my windows black,
I barred the arches, locked the gates. And still,
and still, you stand outside my door and knock.

So I shall spin for you, my dear, a thread
of finest spider-silk; I'll show you where
to set your feet. The beast will sheathe his fangs,
the skeletons retreat. Inside this maze
of mirrors you will sleep in cradled peace:
your Ariadne leads you out unscathed.