a tiny space
“I stand and face the sea,
as the waves come crashing to the shore,
the music of the sea is thunderous and loud.
Yet I am unafraid, I chase the waves, I run about,
excited but calm, I want to explore, I only want more.”
—fifi coo, 11 June 2016
When he was 8 years old, fifi coo, a non-verbal boy on the autistic spectrum, found his voice through the collective love of a family, the patience and resourcefulness of a mother, and a simple alphabet board. The board became the interface between fifi’s thoughts and the public world beyond him. With it, he speaks poetry.
For teachers, therapists and those who have a duty or a job to help special needs individuals lead a more fulfilling life, I hope my book will encourage them to explore new ways of teaching and to not label us as low functioning if we are non-verbal. I hope my book will also help them see that understanding autism cannot be based on theories and experiences with other non-verbal autistics. I hope my book makes them rethink what autism is about and that whatever questions they have about autism, the only person that can give them real answers will be the individual that they are trying to help.
For anyone else who might read my book, I hope they will hear inside my heart and hear my loneliness and experience what it is like to be a human person frequently misunderstood and trapped in a body that is not very functional. I hope I can be a lonely voice for all my non-verbal friends. We experience loneliness in a way that no one can ever understand unless they too lose their voices and have special needs.
About fifi coo
About the orbit series
What worlds live beyond ourselves? An open path for all kinds of books of impact, orbit by Ethos Books launches fresh and alternative works that might not meet the conventions of a full-length work in breadth and kind, but whose concerns orbit the heart of being human. Affordable and coming in a handy physical format, books in the orbit series seek to travel. Reads that seem small in size but will knock your socks off in the span of a train ride; orbit is a setting off and a returning home. Books that are tiny portals to meaning—for yourself, and to all around us.
a tiny space
Slide to see
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
E-book
$14.00 SGD
Recommended Books
Paperback
$16.90 SGD
E-book
$16.90 SGD
A Philosopher's Madness
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Digital Braille
$19.90 SGD
A Place For Us
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
E-book
$20.00 SGD
Ayam Buah Keluak and the Art of Writing: a memoir on living creatively
Paperback (Orders ship after 18 Nov)
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
Malayland
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
womb song
Poetry
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
womb song
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Patient History
Paperback
$18.00 SGD
dragon.paper.wind. (龙卷风)
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
The Orchid Folios
Paperback
$16.82 SGD
E-book
$16.82 SGD
parsetreeforestfire
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Intruder
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Giving Ground
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
Paperback (autographed)
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
Floating Clouds Beyond The Elastic Limit
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
Paperback (autographed)
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
A Flying Crystal
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
A Walk With My Pig
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
A Bad Girl's Book of Animals
Paperback
$16.82 SGD
E-book
$16.82 SGD
GAZE BACK
Paperback
$5.61 SGD $9.35 SGD
(Imperfect) Unhomed
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Paperback
$21.00 SGD
Picking off new shoots will not stop the spring: Witness poems and essays from Burma/Myanmar (1988-2021)
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Some Say, A Tapir
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Farquhar
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Poetry Moves: An Anthology of Poetry
Paperback
$20.56 SGD
Contour: A Lyric Cartography of Singapore
Paperback
$28.04 SGD
To Gather Your Leaving: Asian Diaspora Poetry from America, Australia, UK and Europe
Paperback
$28.00 SGD
A Gathering of Themes
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
E-book
$14.00 SGD
a tiny space
Paperback
$17.00 SGD
E-book
$17.00 SGD
Right of the Soil
Paperback
$28.00 SGD
E-book
$28.00 SGD
Common Life: Drawings and Poems
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
UnFree Verse
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Lost Bodies: Poems between Portugal and Home
Paperback
$18.70 SGD
This Is Not A Safety Barrier: An Anthology of Poetry & Photography
Paperback
$18.00 SGD
I Found A Bone and Other Poems
Paperback
$12.00 SGD
E-book
$12.00 SGD
Me Migrant
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Phedra
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Spomenik
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Bitter Punch
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Singapore Notebook & Blessed Isle
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
UNION : 15 Years of Drunken Boat, 50 Years of Writing From Singapore
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Ars Poetica for the Day
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Do You Live In?
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
The Wrong/Wrung Side of Love
Paperback
$21.50 SGD
Babel Via Negativa
Paperback
$18.00 SGD
Teaching Poetry To Adolescents: A Teacher's Guide to Little Things
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
Never Before—50 Essential Poems / 不可预期—诗精50首
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
SG Poems 2017-2018
Out of stock
Paperback
$11.21 SGD
Love at the Gallery
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
SG Poems 2015-2016
Out of stock
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
Pilgrimage
Out of stock
Paperback
$9.35 SGD
Unhomed
Out of stock
Paperback
$9.35 SGD
Crossing Universes
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
一首诗的时间 2015
Out of stock
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Right of the Soil (Chapbook)
Out of stock
Paperback
$13.00 SGD
Finding Francis: A Poetic Adventure
Out of stock
Paperback
$14.95 SGD
Footfalls in the Rain
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
Light is like water
Out of stock
Attunement
Is life hustling you out of tune? As the week roars by, we invite you to a slice of attunement penned lovingly by our authors, friends, and yours truly. Freshly delivered weekly with care. Intimacy guaranteed. Read selected letters below.
Magical, luminous things
Feb 19, 2022
I have flown across an ocean this week. This still sounds surreal to say.
Read more
No negotiation for blood debt
Feb 14, 2022
The Burmese language resistance poetry is deeply embedded in the country’s colonial past. When mo...
Read more
Burning holes in the darkness
Feb 7, 2022
Poets killed in broad daylight, writers tortured and maimed. I wonder if their ghosts watch on fr...
Read more
