Block Representative
A poem about privacy, permission, and the comfort of being monitored.
You voted. You signed. You agreed.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
This poem is about a man, Mr. Tan.
My neighbour.
He has the key to my apartment.
He says it's to help me with emergencies.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
The lift
On our corridor.
Always breaks down.
No one notices because they travel.
Mr. Tan has their parcels.
He waters their plants.
Checks on the residents.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
He knows who's in...
And who's not.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
Then -
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
Shoes.
Slightly moved.
The window was closed just now.
The towel - wasn't it folded to the left?
Folded to the right now.
See the fridge door through the window?
It's not shut tight.
A WhatsApp message from Mr. Tan.
"You forgot to turn off the stove."
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
Nothing was stolen.
Nothing was damaged.
Nothing to report.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
Mr. Tan passed by.
"You weren't sleeping well last night."
"Your living room light was on."
"Instant noodles are bad for you."
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
Just...neighbourly concern.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
I talked to him.
"How did you enter my home?"
Mr. Tan showed me a document.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
The management retains access.
It can conduct checks.
It can conduct inspections.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
Mr. Tan is its representative.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
I voted for him.
Thanked him.
Even gave him the spare key.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
This poem is about privacy.
About permission.
How safety can become intrusion.
Mr. Tan holds the key.
So do I.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
I gave it to him.
👨🏻🦳🔑🚪👀📱📄✔️
Original poem by Michelle Liew Tsui-Li. AI tags are coincidental.
For Vocal's Say it Plainly challenge
About the Creator
Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin
Hi, i am an English Language teacher cum freelance writer with a taste for pets, prose and poetry. When I'm not writing my heart out, I'm playing with my three dogs, Zorra, Cloudy and Snowball.
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Comments (3)
Our apartment building used to have a maintenance guy always going in my apartment. I got a spy camera. I showed it to someone who could do something about. He is no longer working in the building. This brought back memories.
Oh my, this was soooo creeepppyyyy and unsettling! Loved it!
Great observations on how this can happen