Name and Year: Nicole Teow, C’13 Hometown: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Major: Bioengineering
Street: How did you get started writing? Nicole Teow: I have kept a journal for as long as I can remember but only began seriously writing pieces of short fiction and poetry senior year of high school.
Street: Where do you draw your inspiration? NT: I draw inspiration from the daily happenings of life. The little things that you notice when you’re walking to class, the grander emotions when your life feels bulldozed over, the ephemeral moments in transit when you’re on a plane/train and have all the time in the world to think. I always try to capture unique experiences, feelings, characters, places, etc. —not unlike trying to bottle fresh air.
Street: What is your favorite subject matter? NT: I don’t think that any particular subject matter draws me more than any other but I do believe that things that are more poignant in mind tend to spill out more easily than others. Then again, that’s only the beginning. Once you start editing all rules are broken and everything is on the table.
Street: You said you like to take readers/listeners on an “emotional ride.” Do you think performing your poems facilitates this more effectively than writing? NT: Yes I do. Poetry comes to life when read out loud, and even more so when an author reads said poetry. When my friends come to my poetry readings, they always leave much more impacted than when they read my poetry on their own, flat on a page. Poetry, well my poetry at least, seems to become more shocking/ less PG when read aloud —something to do with the commanding voice or sultry tones perhaps?
Street: Tell us about the visual constructions that you sometimes include in your written work. NT: Visual constructions are something I like to experiment with from time to time with limited to no seriousness. I think it adds to the “emotional ride” that the poem should encompass because it allows the reader to either feel a certain way or read the poem more closely in the style the author purports. In “things I used to do,” I tried to create a more gasping quality with the structure. That said, I’m just as likely to write in boring blocks, single lines, stanzas and the like.
Street: Where do you see your work taking you in the future? NT: I don’t really know where anything will take me in the future. Life is very much up in the air right now. So it will be interesting to see how the next couple of years play out and how I document them too. Tumultuous times make for the best writing.
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A collection of poems by Nicole Teow:
things I used to do
it has been a long time since I last made brussel sprouts or swam out so far that my mother called the lifeguard or painted my toe nails ten different kinds of neon or cycled down the steepest street of the state or did laundry piled taller than a toddler or ran until the wind ate my voice or left my eyelashes bare or had 20/20 vision or wore stripes or stir-fried or jingled.
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Trolley
Walk down the steps The smell becomes stronger Dim lighting Bulbs not replaced Rodents dancing on the tracks Ballrooms for the masses Swooooooosh Red, all red rattles Walk on and stand The first time Always brightens eyes Through the pitch-black With only the glow From within It's like flight Magically superman 20th Street Palms are sweatier Leaving fingerprints On poles Like breath on windows Notice The grime coats Everything Peanut shells Unwashed hair Wafting Smells of ammonia Of purpose, lost Floating.
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Denial
Winter has had over four hundred days the sun has left forever. There is no such thing as a savior. These white walls with moss from all the years indoors your knees perfectly round your eyes. Look at the people with kneecaps shot through where walls have been blown apart How they have lived felt the world shake, consumed and come right back up from the ground.
