Eulogy for the Little (Fridged) Deaths

The pomelo breaks fish scales. Each bite is several ampoules crushed into tartness. It rubs shoulders with strawberries, shimmies against grapes. The pomelo is only a cut thing. In its natural state it remains outside. The inside needs protecting.

The fridge exists as a liminal space between the seer and the object. The fridge is a frame. In opening the fridge, one defies the laws of time. Fossilisation is the natural way but preservation for the purpose of later consumption is a concept that has existed in a different name. Food undergoes cryptobiosis—crypto means hidden, but a crypt is oft-used as a burial space. Biosis means life. In tetrising the fridge we bury our food temporarily. We are resurrecting a dead thing again and again.

The pomelo must be stabbed into and carved down. Strength must be utilised and the knife must be sharp, just as a blunt hammer and lacklustre will is insufficient to break open a fridge. The skin of a pomelo is thick, measuring at least two centimetres in width. Therefore what remains of the interior of a pomelo is variable and little.

The fridge exists as a liminal space between the object and the seer. The objects have their own lives inside. Their lifespan cannot be likened to that of humans but within that unfathomable range they make their space divine. It matters not whose hands they were in, nor whose hands they will go to. It matters not what they contain, only that every object is itself and what is inside it, like how the Kool Aid man is both the jug and the liquid. The objects experience permanence within that region, a kind that remains sacred.

A pomelo is a fridge. Each segment is a shelf and each piece is an object. It is not a liminal space but can be made into one. A fridge cannot change. A pomelo will. A pomelo can and will grow from seed.

A fridge can be buried. A fridge is a constant burial. When the casket is opened, one marvels at the light emanating, life ensuing.

Noonherd is a young brown poet based in Singapore. She is in her third year at the National University of Singapore, studying at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Her works have been published in various online magazines such as PLAYSET! and Antifragile Zine. Find more of her works and connect with her at instagram.com/noonherd.