Scan barcode
verychrisums's review
5.0
very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very good. i would share my favourite poem here, but there were simply too many that i liked (i marked them out with a tick). so instead, have this which is a poem i find many of my friends could use <3:
LIN ZIJIE, CLASS PHOTOGRAPH, PRIMARY SIX
I am every astonished at
The smallness of you,
The goblinlike dumpiness of
your hair, your face, your feet:
utterly at odds with recollection.
Back then you were graceful, swift,
full of angles, like your name,
a gazelle of Sports Day,
track and field. I recall us changing
for PE, the shock of your
bone-white porcelain flesh.
Now I am mortified, sickened that I
loved a half-formed child,
though then a half-formed child
myself. Yes, I'm in the picture too:
a sack of potatoes in Coke-bottled glasses,
eyes left of the camera, distracted or shamed.
How I wish I could reach into pixels,
over your roof, my undeserving beloved,
shake little me sensible,
saying, don't torture yourself,
you will fuck better men
than this.
LIN ZIJIE, CLASS PHOTOGRAPH, PRIMARY SIX
I am every astonished at
The smallness of you,
The goblinlike dumpiness of
your hair, your face, your feet:
utterly at odds with recollection.
Back then you were graceful, swift,
full of angles, like your name,
a gazelle of Sports Day,
track and field. I recall us changing
for PE, the shock of your
bone-white porcelain flesh.
Now I am mortified, sickened that I
loved a half-formed child,
though then a half-formed child
myself. Yes, I'm in the picture too:
a sack of potatoes in Coke-bottled glasses,
eyes left of the camera, distracted or shamed.
How I wish I could reach into pixels,
over your roof, my undeserving beloved,
shake little me sensible,
saying, don't torture yourself,
you will fuck better men
than this.
jeeleongkoh's review
4.0
A number of terrific poems, poems that make me envious: "Pop Aye" (inspired by Kirsten Tan's film of the same name), "The Incredulity of St Thomas" (Is it possible to wring something new from this hoary figure? Yes.), "Holiday" with its transcendent final image. And I love the plainspoken eloquence of "Confession":
The truth is that I do not know
if we were born this way, or if
some oversleeping morning
we will crick our jointed necks
and go: enough already, I am sick
of chasing beauty; I will choose
to love another as one loves
an ancient cat. In life a grown man
compromises: here a dollar,
there a cent, why not this last
and crucial thing, that weighs
the body as time weighs
a hanging clock? Outside
the heart is stalking lizards in the
alley; inside the body
shuts the door and knows
she's never coming home.
A well-read acquaintance asked me why I haven't read many contemporary novels, even when they've won major awards. I said defensively that I read more poetry. What I should have said is that I will read contemporary novelists when they read contemporary poets.
The truth is that I do not know
if we were born this way, or if
some oversleeping morning
we will crick our jointed necks
and go: enough already, I am sick
of chasing beauty; I will choose
to love another as one loves
an ancient cat. In life a grown man
compromises: here a dollar,
there a cent, why not this last
and crucial thing, that weighs
the body as time weighs
a hanging clock? Outside
the heart is stalking lizards in the
alley; inside the body
shuts the door and knows
she's never coming home.
A well-read acquaintance asked me why I haven't read many contemporary novels, even when they've won major awards. I said defensively that I read more poetry. What I should have said is that I will read contemporary novelists when they read contemporary poets.
More...