Julianne Chua
Instructions for Cooking Elbow Macaroni
11 minutes
Use the crook of your elbow to support her neck and bring her closer to you.
Hands on waist, extend your elbows until they are taut, no chicken wings.
Relax, keep your elbows straight as you dive in, arms at 12 o’clock.
Lean over, elbows touching knees, hands on top of your head.
Hook your elbows, slightly bent, and slowly sip that champagne.
Elbows on the table, where I can see them. No holding hands.
Move your elbows forward, slide your body up an inch or two.
Lift arms, bend elbows, chest against the metal surface, hold your breath.
Without locking your elbows, bump the elbow of a person that you meet.
For al dente, firmly press your elbow against the traffic light to cross the street.
—Submitted on 03/24/2020
Julianne Chua is an editor of Artsy: Fun with Southeast Asian Art (National Gallery Singapore, 2017), an activity book for children aged 4 to 7. Her work has appeared in the journal Afterglobe, as well as in the anthologies Petua: Reminiscing Grandmother Tales & Superstitions (Basheer Graphics, 2013), a collaborative project between Visual Inconsideration and The HeartThrob Project; Kepulauan: A Collection of Poems (Ethos Books, 2014), edited by Zhang Jieqiang, Hidhir Razak, and Marcus Tan Yi-hern; and Inheritance: An Anthology (Math Paper Press, 2017), edited by Marie Ee and Joy Chee. Chua holds a BA in with honors from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She grew up between Bukit Batok (Singapore), Boston, and Berlin, and lives in Istanbul.
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