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To the Tune of “Shout” by Tears for Fears

  To the Tune of “Shout” by Tears for Fears   “In the days leading up to the May 3 elections—and Singapore offers one of the shortest windows for campaigning, only nine days—political rallies organized by opposition parties were packed, and enthusiasm for their candidates seemed real.”—Salil Tripathi, in  “Why Singapore’s Ruling Party Won Yet Again,”  Foreign Policy , May 5 th , 2025 What plane will you fly in and out of Singapore? I’ll write a poem, not about,  of  Singapore.   Respect the voters’ choice, say the politicians. When the choice weighs the crimes and clout of Singapore.   Pissed off, that’s how I feel, go and tell your masters. God! I’m sick and tired, no doubt, of Singapore.   Outdoing one another on the screen, the pundits wow but so does the sexist lout of Singapore.   I wanna scream and shout. And let it all out. I wanna scream the scream, shout the shout, of Singapore.   The public square is out-of-bounds for PDA....
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The Bird Is Out of the Cage

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . When two young women, while trying to talk to Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam about the misuse of POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) , were provoked to flip the bird to the cameras of his minders, the fast-and-furious criticisms of the sisters from politicians of the governing party, civil-society actors, and community leaders were telling about the rigid restrictions of political discourse in the country. As  Jom  puts it, "When we are quick to judge, to believe authority over activists, to pine for some imagined decorum in a dialogue biased by the disparity in power, we leave out much from our collective consciousness, our understanding of who we are." The sisters have given  their own version of the event , and I choose to believe them instead. If the full video were to be released, and not just the seven minutes that whistled to the ...
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To the Tune of “The Invisible Man” by Queen

 I have been thinking about what it means to write "political" poems, not just "news that stays news," but also about my own positionality in relation to Singapore politics. Sometimes New York and Singapore connect, unknown to anyone else. For example, I wrote the poem below thinking of both the criticism of Singapore writers of the National Library Board's use of generative AI and my own thoughts after the AI training at my Manhattan independent school. To the Tune of “The Invisible Man” by Queen  “68 Singapore writers sign statement criticising National Library Board’s ‘uncritical endorsement’ of generative AI”— The Straits Times , January 08, 2025  We heard the miller bragging   To both the young and old, I have a wonder for a daughter  Who spins straw into gold. The King, desirous of talents,  As Lazybones of bed, Ordered the girl to spin till morning  Or off with her head! In a prison dark and musty,  The girl, limp as a leaf, For a chil...
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To the Tune of “This Is Home, Truly”

To the Tune of “This Is Home, Truly” I am a Good Class Bungalow, You are a No Class Flat.    I live and work among the shmos, a natural aristocrat. I am a Good Class Bungalow And not a No Class Flat. I’m rich in show and hung with dough, And yet no caveat. I am a Good Class Bungalow. Don’t say, I No Class Flat. Just one slip of the tongue, you know POFMA’ed you will get. I am a Good Class Bungalow Supporting No Class Flats. That fairy tale from long ago Better believe or—SPLAT! I am your Good Class Bungalows, I am your No Class Flats. I am your River sung and flow Through zilch and ziggurats.
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Humphrey Carpenter's W. H. AUDEN: A BIOGRAPHY

 It's nice to have so many little details all in one place when I can only remember bits and pieces read from articles and other books about Auden. A useful reference. I think Carpenter is right to stress Auden's middle-class, Edwardian upbringing. His verse was innovative at all stages of his writing career, and he lived into the 1970s, but in his attitude to homosexuality, his longing for a settled, domestic life, and his return to the Christian fold, he showed the deep marks of home. Nevertheless Carpenter is alert to how Auden's travels and different habitations around the world influenced his writing. The biographer pays his subject the tribute of close attention.
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Art, Activation, Activism

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . "Art can activate the inert," I heard the Singaporean theater artist Ong Keng Sen say in his keynote lecture for last weekend's 6th biennial Singapore Literature Festival in NYC. "It can activate what is latent, what is potential." This is one of many gems that I will carry with me after the festival. Another is the story that  Ajoomma  writer-director He Shuming told about joining a group tour from Singapore to Korea to research the aunties for his film. Hearing that he was single, the ajoommas wanted to match him with their daughters, but on learning that he was a filmmaker, they stopped.  The stories were both funny and sobering. Filmmaker Dev Benegal shared his memory of sitting besides a famous film editor for four whole years in order to learn how to direct. Author and curator Simon Wu explained his urgent and joyful discovery of forgotten Asian American artists in NYC. Theater-mak...
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Interview about My Book SNOW AT 5 PM

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 I had a lovely, wide-ranging conversation about my book SNOW AT 5 PM with poet Indran Amirthanayagam. Originally from Sri Lanka, which Indran still calls by its older name Ceylon, Indran is a naturalized American who used to work in the diplomatic corp. His own poetry is powerfully influenced by Whitman, O'Hara, and Lorca. 
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