Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh

Tag: shortstory

  • 🐾 Understanding Cats as Mirrors of My Soul

    They say pets reflect the personalities of those who care for them. The way they respond to others and express their feelings seems to mirror how they’re treated at home—or perhaps how their owners reveal the rawness of human emotion, unfiltered and instinctive.

    My two cats, Toro and Camille, mirror my ego and superego, respectively. Toro is a sensitive soul, easily shaken by the outside world and never shy about his emotions, almost like a little human. Camille, in contrast, is calm and observant. He watches me in silence, as though he sees through to the very center of me. At times, I think of Toro as the General Cat from Cat’s Eye, and Camille as Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service.

    Sometimes, I wonder if they are the little brother and sister who were never born—that they somehow returned in fur and paws to be near me… and, strangely, near my mother, who once chose not to bring them into the world.

    Whenever they curl beside me, their small hearts pulsing gently against mine, I feel the wonder of life swell within me—a quiet awe at its vividness, like a tide of feeling stirred with reverence for the mystery of creation, and the One who makes all things beautiful.

    Rudyard Kipling once said that a cat walks by himself. But perhaps he never met mine.

    Whatever happens, they are my familiars—silent witnesses and gentle companions, walking beside me through this strange and lovely journey of life.

  • prompt 94

    Write about your first computer.

    My first personal computer was an Apple iBook that my paternal grandmother bought for me in 2005. It was prettier in look and smoother in touch than the current MacBook Pro. That was how I got initiated into the World of Apple, followed by the iPod (I loved it!) and iPhone (I still Love it).

    I had been using other brands of computers at school and work, so for my personal computer, my choice was an Apple iBook. I told my Grandmother in Vancouver, Canada, about it, and she wanted to buy it for me as a gift. In addition to this iBook gift, she was the only one on both sides of the family who showered me with lovely words and gifts. My grandmother knew my true colors and encouraged me to write. Alas, now that she’s departed, and I am an orphan in this cold world that has always been unkind. I know how the Ancient Mariner feels in Samuel Coleridge’s self-same poem.

    Alone, alone, all, alone,

    Alone on a wide, wide sea!

    The history of my Apple appliances has become part of the history of my life. Methinks that perception betokens a microscopic view of how a human civilization evolves as the development of tools or vehicles progresses. Or so it seems.