First Look: Gaze Back

Nasi Kang Kang by Marylyn Tan

I asked the internet about
nasi kang kang

google said:
some southeast asian cultures believe
that virginal fluids, including menstrual blood
have special supernatural powers
and is commonly used by individuals
and witch doctors in rituals

google said,
according to malay folklore
a woman who feeds her husband or
boy friend with nasi kang kang
can have absolute control over him

kang kang means to straddle
squat, because you don’t raise your leg to pee
queef, because you’re claiming property
spread your thighs like a rumour split
the red sea so you can
keep your marriage together

like a shitty science experiment

take part in the water cycle
above a pot of fresh-cooked rice
let vapour condense at what
themalaysianlife.blogspot.sg calls
your muff

to rain upon the padi field
of your philips rice cooker

the idea is
witchcraft comes naturally
to women

but which
witch
women

okay, but then hor
my hubby say white rice too fattening then how

the caloric intake of nasi kang kang
is half that
of swallowing your pride

okay but then hor
I sometime forget to wash my down there
& sometime wash oreddi still very smiauly
I scared my boyfriend eat already
recognise my chao chee bye

the hot air rising from the cooker
has tightening effect on your lovehole
like brand new

so after the rice steam
his one will also cock steam
he will stop calling your labia flaps
roast beef after you use your

pleasure cooker

okay, but then hor
nasi kang kang is fake one then how
I asked SGForum. they asked
ijit cai png

they asked
steam rice where got kang kong?

I said sian you all multiracial society
machiam like don’t know other cultures sia
like never eat lassi lomak until gelat before
so not boleh.
cannot make it one. like that
I ownself answer my own question

but then hor
everyday I work until damn late damn cui 
no time to cook no maid how????

themalaysianlife.blogspot.sg says:
for busy career women, useful
improvisations to this recipe include using
claypot chicken rice

just tar pau the rice
and do the kang kang at home

no need to keep a pet dog
just get a man

falling in love is a fistfight
it is common to hear bells
when you finally win the tinder match
some will tell you
there’s not much difference between
a wrestling & a wedding ring

for many career women
there are pot lids like glass ceilings
over their rice bowls

watering their wetlands to make sure
they are wanted

these thighs were made for walking
not waterlogging

I had a vision of a woman
squatting over food
like she was exercising
her residential rights
to the kitchen

my mother had a fridge magnet that read
THE WOMAN WHO
BRINGS HOME THE BACON
SHOULDN’T HAVE TO COOK IT

but that’s possible only after you
hire someone to make sure
the bacon cooks
itself

it doesn’t matter
if your nasi kang kang is organically-sourced   vegan
& gluten-free

it’s not the
emotionally-healthy option
keeping body & soul together is
much more than a campaign telling
GOOD GIRLS TO SWALLOW

instead of starving yourself

eat your own nasi kang kang
fall madly under your own spell

forget those who
call you demon for you are
self-possessed—

nobody needs a recipe to cook rice
instead, gardening tips:

weed out self-doubt
slash & burn those who
tells you to be both curved
& skinny as a sickle

pluck up every impulse to
sink claws into flab
& perish the thought
you are hungry

only to please