i dreamt Lady Chaos with despair sigh
but she cared not for suits and hearts
with glacial bleeding an heart to die
and torn of memory strewn in parts
the question: was she enchanting?
magic, sorcery, glyph and rune
circle to keep the sick struggling
for air as the soul drowns in ruin
with a look and nothing more to last
a play, a gait, and torrent of an april shower
there was the mystery as he weaves her as past
hands to flip the tarot to reveal the Tower
kneel before Stygian shores to whisper her name
that in the sleeping the dead might live again
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Smoke
rain
so so so
very heavy
would you
with
me
cuddle
in
out
the window
keep
warm
and dry
ember
splitter splatter
so so so
very heavy
would you
with
me
cuddle
in
out
the window
keep
warm
and dry
ember
splitter splatter
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Upstairs
come with me
together
we'd climb the stairs
up,
level eight
the hall fellow's balcony
we'd take a drag or two
and pray he don't come out.
together
we'd climb the stairs
up,
level eight
the hall fellow's balcony
we'd take a drag or two
and pray he don't come out.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
It's Raining
don't you like it
when it rains,
but we're safely dry indoors?
wet outside
it's HUGE
lightning
and rumbling
her
crimson
nails
she
dreamily
stares
at
when it rains,
but we're safely dry indoors?
wet outside
it's HUGE
lightning
and rumbling
her
crimson
nails
she
dreamily
stares
at
On a Fruit Salad
do i love my country: we have so many different races, so many different cultures, so many different gods, traditions, customs, the chinese 7th month ge tai, malay weddings in the void deck, thaipusam indian parades of devotion, we have got mosques, temples, churches together, sometimes on the same street, we have lots of different food, laksa, po piah, nasi lemak, chicken rice, roti prata, peranakan, so many different flavours, our language, singlish, a mixture of many dialects, a dilution of our colonial masters' tongue
and you've got this blend of race and religion, the hindus with their ramayana, the chinese; sun wukong and journey to the west, the christians tell of tales from the gospel. the chinese have shamans who enter trances, the malays picked up islam and fast, and pray to an unseen god. you have this harmony between the races, different languages, different dialects within these languages, and then you have the gods of these religions, and devotees, in harmony as well,
somewhere, something went wrong, poor judgement?
it's this poor judgement, that's led to us citizens to become critiquing folk who don't know what they're criticising, who don't know and choose not to find out, and continue laughing and profiling the other races, it's this same poor judgement that's allowing violence for the sake of violence, criticism for the sake of criticism, protestation for the sake of protestation, it's this same poor judgement that's breeding elitism, capitalism, and a selfish pragmatism in parenting, and children, to study for As and certs, slow down, to see how vibrant a country we have become,
while backpacking, we met an austrian couple, i told them about singapore, singapore is like a fruit salad, i tell them, with all these races, languages and religions different cubes of fruit, and our flavour must be taken as a whole, salad, to eat a piece of fruit off the salad and say, this is how the salad tastes is wrong, we must eat every piece of fruit and say, this is how a fruit salad tastes like, that's how unique we are, a fruit salad, a mixture of different flavours.
what would i defend? this rojakness of a country, this identity that is many. or the unconscious hostility everyone harbours as they eye another as competition on the bell curve.
do i love my country?
why, i might be in love with the notion of falling in love.
and you've got this blend of race and religion, the hindus with their ramayana, the chinese; sun wukong and journey to the west, the christians tell of tales from the gospel. the chinese have shamans who enter trances, the malays picked up islam and fast, and pray to an unseen god. you have this harmony between the races, different languages, different dialects within these languages, and then you have the gods of these religions, and devotees, in harmony as well,
somewhere, something went wrong, poor judgement?
it's this poor judgement, that's led to us citizens to become critiquing folk who don't know what they're criticising, who don't know and choose not to find out, and continue laughing and profiling the other races, it's this same poor judgement that's allowing violence for the sake of violence, criticism for the sake of criticism, protestation for the sake of protestation, it's this same poor judgement that's breeding elitism, capitalism, and a selfish pragmatism in parenting, and children, to study for As and certs, slow down, to see how vibrant a country we have become,
while backpacking, we met an austrian couple, i told them about singapore, singapore is like a fruit salad, i tell them, with all these races, languages and religions different cubes of fruit, and our flavour must be taken as a whole, salad, to eat a piece of fruit off the salad and say, this is how the salad tastes is wrong, we must eat every piece of fruit and say, this is how a fruit salad tastes like, that's how unique we are, a fruit salad, a mixture of different flavours.
what would i defend? this rojakness of a country, this identity that is many. or the unconscious hostility everyone harbours as they eye another as competition on the bell curve.
do i love my country?
why, i might be in love with the notion of falling in love.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Thoughts
personally, i didn't really enjoy cambodia. iunno why. it was so strange when we entered Phnom Penh, it'd didn't feel like a comfortable city. a different vibe, as when we entered Ho Chi Minh City. besides that, in general it felt like the country was lost. tourism, sure, every country relies on tourism for foreign income. but the exploitation of the industry, i thought it was annoying. i'd compare vietnam with cambodia. cambodia has had a rough history of the pol pot regime, many died to extreme communism, it's an ultra grim period of cambodia's history. 1975 - 1979, 4 years of the regime, crippled the economy, wrecked the country. a score later, the country still seems to be stuck in ruins. everywhere we went, we'd see land mine victims begging, exploiting their handicap. tourist attractions? yes, come look at the genocide centre, mass killing place here, mass killing place there. times magazine, a while ago, featured this new "tourist attraction" cambodia's gonna open, some pol pot former residence. talk about milking history.
but look at vietnam, it's so much different, 1955 - 1975, that's 20 years of fighting, 20 years of napalm, 20 years of senseless destruction, but look at the country now. when we went to the War Remnant Museum, there's this section where they showed war torn vietnam, and vietnam today, was a moving gallery, as we see how vietnam has moved away from their past. i didn't get that in cambodia. perhaps, i've seen little of both countries, after all, we've only been to seam reap, phnom penh, and saigon, hoi an, hue, and to do such a sweeping comparison is unjust.
really, i think it takes this sense of tenacity and willingness to move away from history, and forge a new country. singapore's had a fair share of war. we've seen the japanese occupation, 1942 - 1945. do we exploit this episode in history? i dun think so. we've got museums, look at fort siloso, fort canning, you could see old battle stations, we learn bout the occupation, that's that. like vietnam would say, we forgive, but we do not forget. cambodia, no, they must never forget, forgive, yes, and move on.
as we travelled around indochina, we got to see the khmer culture, and the fusion of traditions and customs. it's interesting to see a temple to buddhism, but with hindu ramayana wall murals. this once strong civilisation, ravaged by twisted communism, and here, i speak so idealistically.
perhaps i have no right to say of another country, after all, my dear motherland has not been through such upheaval. as we scramble to put down the hock lee bus riots, planes fly overhead and drop bombs on farmers and their fields. as we put down the bukit ho swee fire, the viet cong crawl in their tunnels to outmanoeuvre the american enemies. and as our parents go for their first disco night, che guevara upon granma, together with the july 26th movement, fought for the liberation of their country. we ddin't have such historical episodes. our history's rather peaceful. pride? is that what it is? am i proud of my country? patriotic? emma goldman once wrote: Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.
countries eh?
but look at vietnam, it's so much different, 1955 - 1975, that's 20 years of fighting, 20 years of napalm, 20 years of senseless destruction, but look at the country now. when we went to the War Remnant Museum, there's this section where they showed war torn vietnam, and vietnam today, was a moving gallery, as we see how vietnam has moved away from their past. i didn't get that in cambodia. perhaps, i've seen little of both countries, after all, we've only been to seam reap, phnom penh, and saigon, hoi an, hue, and to do such a sweeping comparison is unjust.
really, i think it takes this sense of tenacity and willingness to move away from history, and forge a new country. singapore's had a fair share of war. we've seen the japanese occupation, 1942 - 1945. do we exploit this episode in history? i dun think so. we've got museums, look at fort siloso, fort canning, you could see old battle stations, we learn bout the occupation, that's that. like vietnam would say, we forgive, but we do not forget. cambodia, no, they must never forget, forgive, yes, and move on.
as we travelled around indochina, we got to see the khmer culture, and the fusion of traditions and customs. it's interesting to see a temple to buddhism, but with hindu ramayana wall murals. this once strong civilisation, ravaged by twisted communism, and here, i speak so idealistically.
perhaps i have no right to say of another country, after all, my dear motherland has not been through such upheaval. as we scramble to put down the hock lee bus riots, planes fly overhead and drop bombs on farmers and their fields. as we put down the bukit ho swee fire, the viet cong crawl in their tunnels to outmanoeuvre the american enemies. and as our parents go for their first disco night, che guevara upon granma, together with the july 26th movement, fought for the liberation of their country. we ddin't have such historical episodes. our history's rather peaceful. pride? is that what it is? am i proud of my country? patriotic? emma goldman once wrote: Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.
countries eh?
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