‘Dear Google’ – Sky Yang’s Follow Up to His Breakthrough Poetry Short ‘Sunny’
1 Oct 2025 | Sky Yang
Sunny is Sky Yang’s first film, which he made in 2020. The film is about a Chinese boy who puts on a giant papier mache mask to hide himself in a world that tells him he should hate where he comes from. It was met with a huge response from the ESEA community and film festivals, and played at BFI Future Film Festival, CPIFF, South London Film Festival, and MilkTea Mixtape.
When Short Stuff asked Yang if he wanted to share some reflections on Sunny, he went above and beyond our expectations. Dear Google is his deeply emotive, moving and narrative response which he has created in written, video and audio formats.
We recommend watching Sunny first, and then reading or listening to Dear Google. You’ll find the full poem below, both in written and audio format. You’ll also find the Dear Google short film, which is an excerpt from the full poem.
SUNNY - short film
DEAR GOOGLE - Short film
DEAR GOOGLE – full essay audio
A note from Sky Yang
A while ago, I wrote a poem called Sunny while in the shower. What started as a mantra to wash away unwanted feelings ended up as a short film by the same name.
Sunny is about a kid growing up ashamed of his East Asian heritage. He dons a mask to hide from the world, but inevitably the mask becomes Sunny’s cage, trapping him in a skin of solitude and shame. I uploaded the video online and now, five years later, people are still finding a strange short film about a boy in a yellow papier-mâché mask. I scribbled more words on napkins and newspapers.
By the time Short Stuff asked me to respond to Sunny, the napkins were stained with new experiences, and the newspapers had grown louder. I stitched together a few things which had stuck in my head. What remained was Dear Google.
A young boy's internet search history is an intimate and humiliating place. With Dear Google, I wanted to examine what Sunny's relationship to his racial identity is through the records of his Google searches. It felt like a digital portal into that awkward and humiliating period of adolescence we all go through. And those absurd situations that arise from having a mixed-race Chinese face and balancing on the tightrope of a predominantly white environment.
Growing up online, you don’t notice how the rise of the internet has started to supplant parents. Why ask your mum embarrassing shit when you can Google it? Mum doesn’t have a six pack. WikiHow can tell me how to be a good kisser. But there are some things that Google, and even parents, don’t have answers for. As cyberspace expands, you can now bypass every form of meaningful human connection through a digital surrogate. This becomes especially true when confronting topics of race, identity, and sexuality within the brutal battlefield of school.
Just as Sunny once donned the mask, he now retreats behind the veil of a computer screen and confides in the only companion who could possibly understand him: Google.
DEAR GOOGLE - WRITTEN ESSAY
Click.
Google ©2013
Google bounces.
My best friend, Google.
Google Search
Every day when the school bell rings I make a wish.
I wish I was someone different.
And each school break, I flex and strain and try to change.
New styles, new outfits, new hair, new —
Am I feeling lucky?
I don’t know exactly what I want, I just know that whatever it is, I’m not it.
I watch the other boys in the changing room.
As they undress, I stare longingly at them.
Terms
Their hair.
Their bodies.
Their eyes.
Settings
And the butterfly whispers to the caterpillar that change can come; but at a cost.
“Metamorphosis fucking hurts, bro. But it’s worth it. Check out my wings.”
Shit.
Since when did Jordan suddenly get muscles?
Privacy
Conversation doesn’t always come easy out there.
But here, with you, it’s so simple.
Feel like I can ask you anything.
Like the other day.
When the boys in the year above called Jenny, “clapped”.
Or Jacob said that he’d “gotten head”.
Or Kyan said him and Megan went to “third base”.
I scoff, smile, and nod,
Like I know what they’re talking about.
I don’t.
But I know I have you, Google.
I can ask you anything.
Even if it does make me feel sick after learning what a “blowjob” is.
What is a noun?
How to get a six pack?
How tall should a thirteen year old be?
Average penis size thirteen years old.
How to be a good kisser?
What makes someone attractive?
Pornhub.
What makes someone unattractive?
Why am I so fucking uglkf;alskjfgdfsldfasfldka—
History.
Clear History.
Turns out, most of my problems come down to genetics.
Or lack of.
Like, when Jacob told me to “go back to China”, I told him I’d never been in the first place.
But that night I asked Dad.
About China.
About the junks he used to see sail down the river.
About his Mum who had to pawn her necklaces for the price of a boat ticket.
About the house in Shanghai his dad grew up in, and the amah who looked after him.
None of which he told me.
I pry, but it doesn’t come loose in his mouth.
I made all that up.
I found it from search results on —
Click.
Google ©2014
Google bounces.
My best friend, Google.
How to get bigger eyes?
I’m confused.
See, Craig told me to open my eyes today.
He passed to me in football practice, and I missed,
And he told me to open my eyes,
And everyone laughed,
And everyone laughed.
But it doesn’t even make any sense.
Because you should see Craig’s eyes.
They’re smaller than mine.
Way smaller.
Like I swear, if we actually got out a ruler —
I go to the boy’s toilet and try to stretch my eyes.
I’m surprised to see my face in the reflection.
I always forget what I look like.
In my head I’m taller.
How to get taller?
In my head I’m white.
Definitely white.
But then when people look at me they see.
Not white.
Or ‘not like us’.
How to look less asian?
My Nan told me I look better when my eyes are bigger.
She told me Chinese food was disgusting.
She told me —
She told me stories at night, and how much she loves me, and how to tie a reef knot.
She also gave me £500 for my birthday.
I love my Nan.
I can probably just open my eyes more.
I can’t be that bad looking.
Lucy rated me a 6.5, which is 0.5 higher than Craig.
So fuck you, Craig.
History.
Clear History.
Click.
Google ©2015
Google bounces.
My best friend, Google.
Minimum GCSE’s you need to get into uni
At school they brought in this guy to advise on what job would be right for us.
Kinda like the astrology version of career advice.
His name was Paul.
Paul would ask questions, and tick boxes.
Then he’d tell you the type of job you should go into.
For example,
If you like nature and mathematics; go into environmental conservation.
True crime and psychology; go into detective work.
Finance and banking; go into being a wanker.
Haha.
Haha.
Shit joke.
Idiot.
Anyway —
You get a list of careers at the end.
Obviously it makes fuck all sense, but it means school can put you into a nice safe box.
And they feel they’ve done their bit in guiding you through a ‘scary’ time.
Problem was, I didn’t see UFC champion of the world on the list.
It’s hard to tell people you’re doing okay, when you’re not.
But it’s easier than telling people you’re not okay.
I get home and I punch the wall.
I punch until I can feel the skin on my knuckles start to peel apart
A red sun setting.
When things feel too big inside, you have to let them outside.
Somehow.
The next day at school I smile extra hard.
When Jacob asks if I know Kung Fu,
I smile even harder.
Click.
Google ©2016
Google bounces.
My only friend, Google.
How to learn about your original culture?
Ways to get in touch with your heritage?
Where am I technically from?
> Some people have reported that learning family history and conversations with relatives help to establish and maintain a stable sense of identity - WikiAnswers.org.uk
> People have reported that travelling to the location where their family originated from, and planning a trip blending tourism and meeting your family, is a great way to celebrate your original culture - adviceformums.org.uk
Maps
Baihouzhen Guangdong
4,875.144 miles from your location
It feels further.
I stare at the place I’m told I’m from.
From up above it just looks like a lot of green.
I urge myself to feel something, anything, for it.
For this place I come from.
Apparently.
But there’s nothing.
Three sides of a triangle.
Where I am. Where I’m told I belong. Where I really belong.
I wonder if Pythagoras ever had to work that one out.
Directions
Your location to Baihouzhen
Can’t find a way there. Try again.
The gap between me and that place eats at me.
Gnaws at me.
It’s all that I am, and all that I’m not.
What did Paul say?
Beautiful place.
Beautiful people.
What was it that Paul said?
‘Adventurous, I was surprised at that last one’.
Last minute flights to China
Something cheap.
cheapflights.co.uk - compare and save
Adult - 1 / Economy / Outbound Tomorrow / LON-GUA
Find Deals
Total Flight Price £474.77
Thanks Nan.
[ ] By checking the box, I confirm I have read and accept the terms and conditions
[ ] By checking the box, I confirm all details of the bookings are accurate
[ ] I want to hear about more amazing deals and offers!
I tick the boxes.
> Confirm
My hand hovers.
> Confirm
My hand hovers.
> Confirm
My hand hovers.
Click.