Saturday, 14 June 2025

'On Family Movie Nights We Watch The Video of My Father’s Colonoscopy' by Sumitra Singam

Ma shrugs, it’s how he was – intrusive, shaming. To me, the stippled mucosa telescoping into view is like veined marble, unknowable beauty. Zita says the faecoliths trapped in a diverticulum means he has to carry us little shits with him forever wherever he’s gone. Zain says bam! as the cauliflower polyp in his transverse colon appears. His little brain, Ma says sputtering with laughter. I watch the deep, pink mystery unfold like a glistening. I read the silken folds for clues. It finishes at his ileocaecal valve - an elephant’s trunk reaching out, looking for something to hold on to. 



Sumitra is a Malaysian-Indian-Australian coconut who writes to make sense of her experiences. She’ll be the one in the kitchen making chai (where’s your cardamom?). Bluesky: @pleomorphic2 & sumitrasingam.squarespace.com


4 comments:

  1. Kelli Short Borges14 June 2025 at 10:32

    " Zita says the faecoliths trapped in a diverticulum means he has to carry us little shits with him forever wherever he’s gone." So good, Sumitra! And that final line is a stunner.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sumitra Singam14 June 2025 at 10:39

    Aww thanks so much, Kelli!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I watch the deep, pink mystery unfold like a glistening. I read the silken folds for clues. gorgeous, Sumitra

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sumitra Singam14 June 2025 at 23:54

    Thank you! Can’t see who this is as it says anonymous, but thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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