I Have chaos on the edge of my lips

J’ai le chaos au bord des lèvres (I Have Chaos on the Edge of My Lips) originated in French through an image-writing process inspired by my photograph series Seeds & Sap. The text was first performed as a trilingual reading in French, English, and Khmer during the exhibition In Between Breaths, at Java Creative Cafe. It subsequently evolved into a site-specific performance exploring the bridging of languages with performers Virak Vinich and Hin Wiccheka at the Golden (R)Age Festival (Year Zero), in April 2025. The text traveled to France for a reading at the 34th edition of Soirées d’été en Luberon, in July 2025.

Extract:

It’s the full moon,
The wolf surges, caresses me,
My shell crumbles,
Beneath plates and spikes,
The fracture.
My skin cracks,
I breathe, it swells, I breathe, it swells, I breathe, it…

It’s night,
Witches wander,
The dead and the living blur,
Dead cooked, dead raw.
I pass my hand over my throat,
My hand, strange and familiar,
Its touch burns.

I have chaos on the edge of my lips…
It’s a state of trembling
A seismic jolt, internal
An explosion that makes no sound
A presence within like a raptor perched on a branch
Immobile, it waits.