On the 22nd of January earlier this year, a rather peculiar Facebook Messenger group was created by the good people behind Sing Lit Station, the driving force behind the annual Singapore Poetry Writing Month (also known as SingPoWriMo, SPWM, spwm, April is the cruelest month, etc, etc).
Read MoreI hate how every conversation I start
these days becomes one about race. What’s the
big deal? And suddenly I’m reeking of fishing
village, as I do when I joke about things
run the sand through your fingers and tell me
the earth isn’t dying for you. tell me this video
has “no journalistic value”, that the digging
stopped years ago.
Years since, the suit has finally
begun to lose its itch. Each April here
the trees rediscover themselves
in an airborne blitz of petals, infectious
with news of closer warmth.
At the coffee shop, I once saw a man brush the seat of a plastic chair even though it was clean. Two days since arriving and I still feel the dry heat on my skin. The water back home felt a lot colder than here.
Read Morethe business of / construction / means a person / occupied by different persons
Read MoreYou wake up; the first thing you do
Is tap on the WeChat app.
The Bissu foretold oppressors
that liberate, liberators that
oppress, sex and gods bound
to erasure, even with prayer.
consider the moon’s rotation
around earth, or its phases.
how it returns to the beginning.
this is not a poem about night
Hougang Green you are not my mall
Hougang Green you are not a mall at all
You are a concrete madhouse
a beige bengster wonderland
you are Gatsby moving rubber melting in the tropical heat
The catch is keeping on.
Every eternal recurrence.
Each unworthy thought.
There are obligations, and then there
are obligations – where there won’t be
a man holding up a placard to tell you
to stand and applaud.
many agree, without contest, on the following set of truths when talking about the incidents of 8 dec 2013
Read Moremany agree, without contest, on the following set of truths when talking about the incidents of 8 dec 2013
Read MoreMid-walk (briskly, for i am late again)
I see her: middle-aged, curled hair, Chanel bag
a dress in primary colors.
Tip #11: Be critical of the crit you receive.
Read MoreI arrive at Grapple MAX on a warm weekend afternoon. Immediately I feel like a fish out of water; wrestling mats and weights are scattered all around the lot, with a huge wrestling ring taking up centerstage. I instinctively cradle my untoned arms closer to my body.
Read MoreRodrigo Dela Peña, Jr. is a Filipino writer based in Singapore. A hugely active and supportive contributor and member of the SingPoWriMo community, he has been a SingPoWriMo moderator in 2018 and 2019, as well as a co-editor of the 2018 SingPoWriMo anthology.
Read MoreNabilah Said is a playwright, critic, poet and the editor of ArtsEquator. Her plays have been staged in Singapore and London. She is the founder of Main Tulis Group, a collective of playwrights writing in Malay and English.
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