for a future


Max Pasakorn

Issue 1: RISE, July 2023


where i still live
on the glaze of the ocean

& the sun shows up to work
in a t-shirt that says something

meaningless like, “Go Slay The Day,
Mama!!” & my home

is snug enough to house my obsession
of seaweed paintings & i cash in

my daylight savings as an offering
to El Nino & i bring the shaver

to my coconut cheeks, my jellyfish beard,
my tadpole throat & my boyfriend

fills the laundry with seashells

& we twine our fingers like two lions’ manes
criss-crossed into friendship bracelets
& i sequence cheques into a flamingo pause

& i nap

into an octopus-spread,
where cherries pick us up
by our potato-pimpled hands

and how likely we are
to help them sprout

Max Pasakorn (he/she/they) is a queer, Thai-born, Singapore-based essayist and poet. Max’s writing, which has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and is a finalist for the SFPA Rhysling Award, can be found in Speculative Nonfiction, Chestnut Review, Strange Horizons and more. Read Max at www.maxpasakorn.works