In round 3 of my fourth year at Liger, I was in the exploration Costume and Set Design. The goal of the exploration was to design the set and costumes for a play that Senior Dalin, who was the facilitator/supervisor of the exploration, wrote for Phare Ponleu Selpak, which is a non-profit art school in Battambang. Later in the exploration, we took a trip to Battambang and visited Phare to work with them on the play. While we were in Battambang, we also went to Sangker Gallery, a creative art space in the city. When we got there, we were given a challenge to find an art piece that we like and write a story for it in a creative way. I worked on the challenge with my good friend Narak, and we chose to write a poem. It is titled “Dystopian Sunset”, and it, along with a picture of the art piece from Sangker Gallery that we picked, can be found at the bottom of this post. The poem can also be viewed on Google Docs here: bit.ly/3mX3y4M. I had quite a wonderful time in Battambang, working with Phare, visiting Sangker Gallery, and writing about one of the art pieces there. Overall, I enjoyed being a part of this exploration. And I hope you enjoy this poem!

“Dystopian Sunset”

Narak & Panharith

Our world was beautiful

free of corruption and greed.

Everything was balanced.

Life was free of humanity’s domination.

 

The second they step foot in this utopia

the lands became drained of peace.

Instead, the world was filled with misery and despair.

We became hopeless and helpless.

 

Slowly, our world started to crumble.

Ruination was brought upon us all.

Our homes became destroyed

and there was nothing we could do about it.

 

The givers faded to ashes.

The blue giant went grey, lifeless.

The invincible dome cracked.

Everything turned into waste.

 

We sat and watched

as they continued to bring detriment

upon us all, but also themselves.

We laid, lifeless and, with our last dying breath,

watched the dystopian sunset.

We watched the world end.