"How to Bake Sourdough Bread in a Crisis" is a haiku that was inspired by the challenges that many of us faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we were all trying to adjust to a new way of life, I found myself turning to the simple pleasure of baking bread. There was something comforting about the process, and it gave me a sense of control during a time when so much seemed uncertain. The poem is more than just about bread, though. It's about finding hope and solace in the midst of difficult times. I hope that it resonates with readers and serves as a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is always something we can hold onto.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and I hope that you will check out Not Only Lines and the other wonderful poems included in this anthology.
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Long acronym aside, the Yellow Ribbon Community Art & Poetry Exhibition (YRCAPE) is a multimedia art exhibition that showcases works by by present and former inmates in Singapore. The theme for this year's exhibition is A Garden of Possibilities, and it's been a pleasure to be part of the programme.
Sometime in May/June this year, SingLit Station invited me to conduct a series of poetry-writing workshops for a group of male inmates at Changi Prison. The poems created during the workshops serve to complement the participants' artworks and lend an extra dimension to their pieces by putting into words their thoughts, hopes and yearnings. Originally, the YRCAPE exhibition was slated to be held at Gardens by the Bay this year. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the organisers decided to move the event online. There's a guided video tour of the exhibition by curator John Tung after the break: Hot off the press today: a Youtube video. In May 2021, I worked with ArtScience Museum to produce a video on haiku writing. Initially, there were some jitters, but after a few takes, things began to click in place. As much as this video is meant to be informative for viewers new to poetry writing, I gained new insights about video production too!
Titled Ethos Books at Home, Ethos Books invites readers to take a peek into the workspaces of their authors and make time for connections in the process. Besides, aren't you curious to see how work looks like at home for me? Image after the break.
They say Singaporeans lack imagination and creativity. What if there is a platform for budding writers to pen poems and share them with other readers online? For a month? Singapore Poetry Writing Month ("SingPoWriMo") accomplishes just that. SingPoWriMo is a poetry-writing challenge that takes place annually in April. Organised by SIngLit Station, this event has been going on for almost 7 years now.
For every day in April, there will be a writing prompt provided by the SingPoWriMo moderators. Participants create a poem based on the prompt(s) of the day and share it on social media (namely, Facebook and Instagram). For FAQs and more information, visit SingPoWriMo's site here. This year, in collaboration with SingPoWriMo, Ethos Books is giving away a copy of my 2nd poetry collection Bitter Punch (read a sample here), as well as a $10 Ethos Books gift card for a poem based on the prompt(s) for Day 18. Check out the prompt after the break: I know it's been a while—a long while—since I last updated, and it feels like I dropped off the face of the earth. 2020 has been nothing short of busy, not to mention topsy-turvy, what with COVID-19 and its aftereffects.
Still, I am safe, I am here, and I am here to say that I've collaborated with the SIngapore Book Council to produce an online writing workshop titled A Guide to Ekphrastic Writing (link here). Suitable for students aged 11 and above, this virtual workshop introduces participants to ekphrastic writing and guides them through various hands-on activities to help them produce their own creative piece of writing. If you are a teacher based in Singapore, do check out what other workshops the Singapore Book Council offers (link here). They not only have virtual workshops, but face-to-face ones as well. Going to dive back into the real world of life and work. Until the next update, take care. I think it was sometime in 2011 (or 2012) that I wrote a poem titled “Transparent Strangers” about a crush on a woman I met at a conference. As most crushes go, mine went nowhere after a while. Through some strange twist of fate, my first collection of poems was eventually named after this piece. It’s been a long-held belief of mine that in writing a poem I set it free, much like a bird in a cage. “Transparent Strangers” and its mawkish sentiments saw light of day and I pretty much forgot about the poem thereafter.
Christmas is upon us. During this festive season, if you are looking for something to read during this festive season, fret not. The A List (yes, the same magazine that interviewed me about martial arts in the previous post) asked a couple of Singaporeans for book recommendations, of which I contributed two. See if you find something worth picking up here.
We're barrelling towards the end of 2019 into a new decade. Here's wishing everyone a restful break, in mind, body and spirit. Peace. In conjunction with The Poetics of Martial Arts, a Deep Cut event organised by Ethos Books and Littered With Books, local arts directory The A List reached out to me for an interview. The interview headed in an offbeat direction as I ended up talking more about martial arts training than writing in general.
Over the course of our email exchanges, certain misconceptions started to appear, such as the curiously misinformed notion many writers are influenced by martial arts. (Really? Who?) A comment was even floated at one point that a community of martial arts-practising local writers could exist. (Really? Where?) The correspondences went longer than expected, but I managed to disabuse the interviewer of her specious, and frankly fanciful, impressions of combat training. Not that I am an expert in damaging people, by any measure. If anything, I am more enthusiast than expert. Nevertheless, to read more about my thoughts on fighting and writing, check out the interview here. Or you could do one better and head down to the event at Littered With Books. Details here. In my younger years, poetry was a flower: gather enough of them and you got yourself a pretty bouquet. When I think of my first collection of poems, I see a compendium of (ostensibly) pretty lines penned by someone I scarcely recognise, much less know, someone whose primary purpose seemed to be getting praised for his work. My mind turns to art, artifice, artificiality.
Transparent Strangers came out almost 7 years ago. Much has changed since then. |
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