Epigram

This is blogpost number fifty,
It deserves a tribute witty,
A name I sought but could not see,
This poem I give epon'mity.

Epigram by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sir, I admit your general rule,
That every poet is a fool,
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.

A Blade of Grass

I finally understand what this means, nay, I've finally felt what this means.

A Blade of Grass by Brian Patten

You ask for a poem.
I offer you a blade of grass.
You say it is not good enough.
You ask for a poem.

I say this blade of grass will do.
It has dressed itself in frost,
It is more immediate
Than any image of my making.

You say it is not a poem.
It is a blade of grass and grass
Is not quite good enough.
I offer you a blade of grass.

You are indignant.
You say it is too easy to offer grass.
It is absurd.
Anyone can offer a blade of grass.

You ask for a poem.
And so I write you a tragedy about
How a blade of grass
Becomes more and more difficult to offer,

And about how as you grow older
A blade of grass
Becomes more difficult to accept.

Coeur de L'Oiseau (Aves)

Coeur de L'Oiseau (Aves)

Under the spell of the rain
I am compelled to release the
Burgeoning bird from my chest,
Growing, flowing!
Her tunes are a bride’s silky gown,
Her song is thunderous,
Her songs are canonical,
Like the drenching in sweet honey of the rain
Like Acer saccharum caressing the tip of my tongue, the fluttering!
Oh what keys it takes to unlock this cage!

~tc©

Political Poetry

I was browsing through my very neglected IHS notes during a little rust-wipe exercise when I came across a set containing a long excerpt of our dear Catherine Lim's contentious compositions. To my absolute delight, she had compiled a series of political poetry not very dissimilar to her reputation. I like.:D

[...that is, keeping the basic elements that allow Singapore to be a legitimate member of the free world, and throwing out all the messy bits.

Here's a light-hearted poem on the subject:

Say out the four-letter word.
The Devil at once shouts
"Pope",
The Pope frowns and says
"Hell",
The pessimist mutters "Hope".
"Porn", growls the puritan,
"Bush", scream the Iranians,
"Cops", grumbles the hooker,
"Jews", roar the Palestinians.
For Donald Trump, it is "Poor",
And for the poor, it is "Limo",
The PAP says, "We have two,

They are 'Oppo' and 'Demo'."

.

.

.

.

.

...The government knows that it must deal carefully and sensitively with this group of Singaporeans. The prospect of bright, highly-skilled young professionals emigrating to countries that can afford them, in their own words, "more voice, more space", is very worrisome.

Here's a verse that could easily have come from one of these bright, outspoken Singaporeans:

World reports and surveys

Are impressed by Singapore;

They note its glowing charts

And watch its economy soar.

An A for sound investments,

An A for rule of law;

An A-plus for governance.

Each is a perfect score.

But it is a dismaying D

For freedom of the press,

Political debate and dissent

Get a grade that's even less.

Since we have turned global

We need the world's regard,

So let's correct the imbalance

And improve our report card.

.

.

.

.

.

...a little poem about how easily the government can manage a people who have become overdependent and hence politically naïve:

"We do have freedom,"

say Singaporeans,

"As is clear from our presentstatus,

Since we are free to do everything

That the PAP government

lets us!"]

~©ACS(I) IHS Dept.

and Catherine Lim of course

Sigh, it's a pity local writers find no ground in our "science and technology and PAP is the best!!!" island. How??

May God save my blog too!:D

Proud of My Descent

Yesterday, two people said I have the look of a doctor.

My Chinese teacher said, "医学啊！你很有医生的形象啊！"

To which my eyebrows replied with gymnastic flexibility.

She continued to me, and the class, "我觉得全部的医生们都长得像你这个样子的吗。"

To which my eyesbrows persisted with gymnastic endurance.

Right.

Next, my hairdresser.

She said, "医学？很好啊！你好像很有爱心的(leh)!"

This time moving my brows meant moving my scalp meant moving my hair meant getting some hair that I want kept on my head laughing at me on the floor. My conjecture's that I probably blushed and said something stupid.

Besides that, the hairwash; she was masterful. With a masseuse's hands, her delicate fingers were meandering gracefully up my neck and around my scalp with professional alacrity. An extra five bucks for that? Yeah definitely worth the therapeutically spine-chilling experience. She's more than good, and I am so going back.

Today's HCL prelim paper was...somewhere between a breeze and a gale. 记叙文 beckoned my pen again. And I gave in again.

理解篇章 was the least pokerfaced I'd ever had, enjoyed every single word. =7

Ah. Let the ink end here today, the title says it all.

Ever Heard of One-line-poetry?

The Cornucopian Multiplicity of Poetry-Composing Folk Inhabiting this Global Vicinity Unanimously Agree that the Measurement Lengthwise and Articulate Convolution of a Poem, Unconditionally, do not Unconstructively Impinge on the Quality or Prospective Eminence of the Subject-matter Thereof

However, I don't.

~tc©

The Trivial Matters

The Trivial Matters

It irks the modern soul to think
Of how the God of stars and seas
And overflowing majesty
Could conjure up the idea of
A reddish swelling facial bump
To which we all refer to as
The pimple. Oh divine imagination!
How heav’nly all we see our zits
Contraptions of our Father’s glory
Well let us not forget the story
Of breaking wind and breezy weather
What sin is found in such synergy
But glory glory to have a Dad
As droll as this. That brings to mind
Our vocal chimes and why they come
Alive just during shower time.
I think God truly hoped that we
Could praise Him anytime, He did.
Just let me add colloquially,
The same Supreme who crafted all
These random idiosyncrasies
Had given me a helping hand
In wielding brave this crafty pen.

~tc©