// BABETTE’S FEAST CHAPBOOKS

BABETTE’S FEAST is a fortnightly gathering of writers: writers of singular words, writers of sentences, writers of letters, writers of lyrics, writers of stories, writers of fact, writers of the ephemeral. Come over for a casual dinner consisting of a humble feast (potlucking is encouraged), warm company, sharing and critique of your

written works. Open to the public. Initiated and organised by BOOKSACTUALLY.

MATH PAPER PRESS will spot new talent during these sessions. Each of the newly discovered writers will be published in a tangible book form, in their very own chapbooks.

. . .

// THE WORLD MUST WEIGH THE SAME a string of poems

by Carol Chan  

   

Here is a brief case of references. I imagine a man observe his daughter observe as he goes his daughter observe as he goes about the business of living. In attempting to give this life some significance, perhaps what emerges are questions regarding my own, which is not so much a story as a case of matters regarding facts. ~ Carol Chan

Published by MATH PAPER PRESS (2011) Distributed by MATH PAPER PRESS

ISBN-13: 978-981-07-0130-7 Retail Price: SGD 10.00

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POPCORN

‒ 5pm, and I’m craving popcorn, one of those afternoons that smell of warm rain that hasn’t yet fallen, the smell of warm, baked roads and the ancipation of a real good wash-your-migraine-out-storm. I want popcorn. Popcorn in a bag from the margins of Bangkok, caramel crisp coffee popcorn from that loved-up train station where the corn-popper is also a barista who lovingly burns my coffee. I’m sure she never drinks that filth. But she’s not here so I make do with cheap popcorn from 7-11. I almost miss her. The bag says it’s made in Singapore, product of America. So much of what we eat and do is a product of America and China. Just week a Chinese migrant told me he’s never drunk canned Chinese herbal tea with his meal before. You’re joking, I said, surely you drink tea with meals. This isn’t tea, it’s a soft drink, qi shui, and by the way in China only white collared workers drink coffee. His small eyes widen as he adds, and the food here is inedible. Your people mix different foods together on a plate. It’s all a mess and tastes nothing like home. He should know; he’s a chef back home. I don’t tell him that this is home on a plate for me, that in Melbourne

Where I lived for four years, I missed this shit everyday. He spends his days here slicing gourmet cakes, twelve hours a day, in a factory I have never seen. Those delicate cakes sold in cafes slicing up his hours, graying those small, surprised eyes. But now this popcorn will have to do. It’s too soft and plasticky, tasting of nothing but 7-11 florescent lights and first-world boredom, human dreams.

— Excerpt from The World Must Weigh the Same by Carol Chan

Published by

MATH PAPER PRESS

by BooksActually No. 9 Yong Siak Street

Singapore 168645 t / +65 6222 9195

http://booksactually.com/mathpaperpress.html

Math Paper Press is a small press publishing by BooksActually that deals with short experimental novellas, poetry and essays.

Math Paper Press also distributes books by selected small presses.

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For more enquiries or to place an order, please email : booksellers@booksactually.com

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