Malaysia

A purple fruit with tough skin
I place between my palms
push inwards with all my might
A crack reveals itself
Revealed to me is a golden white
The sweetest fruit I’ve ever tasted
I stand on the rock by the riverbank
All that’s left is skin and seed
Under the tunnel in the humid night
The lights reflect off water
The train departs and I'm walking there

My beautiful cousins, laughter fills the air
Adventure is excitement, that which fills our bones
We laugh and the clock strikes 10pm
Quay teow and asam laksa, satay with peanut sauce and nasi impit
A fresh coconut, we drink its water
We eat until our bellies are full
In the house by the upper deck
Britney spears and backstreet boys
Games of uno in a circle, mosquitoes everywhere

And the lice has found our scalps
The cat eye tree in the yard, the fish are in the pond
A man sweats in humid heat
Carrying four of us on his bike taxi
To my uncle’s shop, he kneads the dough
Roti canai and durian
Buttery, soft, sweet, and savory
Te-o ice and milo ice
Refreshing to say the least

And as we’ve grown, so too has this country
Developed and westernized
But we still retreat to karaoke rooms
Finding bowling alleys in large malls
I can hear our laughter to the pour of liquid fudge
Batu caves and the monkeys there
Those intrepid creatures
By the fine white sand and the warm Indian ocean
The dense tropical trees, we took boats from island to island
And we laughed even harder in chalets over water
Playing Wii sports and Guitar Hero

For the ones that have moved on
I see them clear in dreams
Malaysia is a wonderful land
In my heart.

Shahin Monjezi is a Malaysian-Persian American writer. His work draws on the imagery of Southern California suburbia and his travels abroad to his mother’s home country of Malaysia, bringing together the familiar and the foreign.