Speakeasy #16 at Artistry

Speakeasy #16 at Artistry featured two very different, excellent, inspiring poets, George Szirtes and Ng Yi Sheng.

Apart from being a TS Eliot prize winning poet, George, is a Manchester Utd supporter. He also delivered a wonderful response to Jeremy Paxman's statement that poetry should aim to 'engage with ordinary people much more'.

I really enjoyed listening and engaging with his poem, Madhouse.

George has written a fine summary of the evening - full of warm and open insights - here on his blog. 

Ng Yi Sheng is one of the leading poets in Singapore and won the Singapore Literature Prize for Last Boy in 2006. 

His mother was in the audience and I bought her a pot of camomile tea. Yi Sheng tore off his T Shirt and performed 'A Loud Poem to be Read to a Very Obliging Audience', which climaxed in a crescendo of energy and action, and then levelled off to end in self destruction. Afterwards I poured his mother another cup of tea.

Yi Sheng has an illuminating tumblr East is Everywhere which explores the mix and mingling of 'Asian' cultures.

Speakeasy returns to Artistry Cafe next year.

Singapore Migrant Worker Poetry Competition

Last Sunday evening, the first Migrant Worker Poetry Competition was held. It was a wonderful & joyful evening with poetry from Bangladeshis read out in Bengali & Tamil on themes of family, memories of home, politics, love & religion. The music & dancing were terrific too.

A selection of the poems can be found here, including the winning poem, Pocket 2.

It was wholly appropriate that the evening was held in the Possibility Room of the National Library, Singapore:

• without migrant labor, Singapore’s economic success & wealth would not be possible i.e. the standard of living & privilege we all enjoy is due in large part to low cost migrant workers (S$18 a day average pay for construction workers, domestic helpers, manual labourers, cleaners etc)
• it is possible that you’ve never even thought about migrant workers before … let alone that they could appreciate literature … or create poetry
• it is possible, that by treating people the way we would like to be treated (cf rioters in an exercise drill), looking beyond surfaces & enjoying the company of people who are not like us - from other countries, ethnicities & religions - we become the richer for it

Some of the poets could not attend because they had to return to their home countries due to work permits expiring. More community spaces, better living conditions, and protection against loan sharks & exploitative employers are some important issues for migrant workers. 

The organisers are looking to include foreign workers from other backgrounds & countries next year. Alvin Pang, poet extraordinaire & judge, suggested that migrant workers be invited to the Singapore Writers Festival in 2015.

This would be a good thing.

Kid, Jakarta Selatan & Half A Person

Australia. When did we decide it's OK to lock up children?

It's not just locking up children - it's the Australian Government facilitating child abuse through it's policies, contractors and employees. How can children be treated this way? How can we change the policy of both major political parties & the majority of Australians?

1. Australia's policies place children in harm's way: "Four child refugees released to live in the community in Nauru say they were physically assaulted on Sunday night, and threatened with death if they stayed on the island." The Guardian, October 2014
    
2. Australia's policies are State sponsored child abuse: "Australian paediatricians considered mandatory detention a form of child abuse and strongly disagreed with offshore processing." Medical Journal of Australia, August 2014
    

3. Australia's policies are causing children to self harm:
   
   "The inquiry has concluded, on the basis of evidence from inside and outside the system, that children detained for long periods have suffered significant adverse impacts on their health – especially mental health - and their development. It calls for all of them, including those on Nauru, to be released into the community, or into community detention where there are security factors.

   The extensive inquiry found the impact of detention was significantly greater on children than on adults. According to figures given to the inquiry, in a 15 month period, there were 128 instances of self harm by children compared with around 80 by adults.

   The draft report has gone to the Immigration Department and to the Attorney-General’s department." Child Detention report timetable tight for tabling this year, The Conversation, Oct 2014
    

4. Australian Govt contractor's are alleged to engage in violence & sexual misconduct of children - Investigations are delayed, undermined & underfunded:
   
   "Guardian Australia has published extensive evidence of child abuse and instances of self-harm on Nauru, including:

• pictures and video of children with their lips sewn shut in protest
• internal reports from centre managers Transfield detailing allegations of sexual misconduct by staff against children
• detailed descriptions from staff about violence against child detainees by guards employed by Wilson Security. 

Australian federal police confirmed to Guardian Australia it had received a referral from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. It had not started an investigation."

What you can do?

1. Contact your local MP. Let them know these policies are shameful, expensive, illegal & immoral.
2. Tell your friends via Facebook & Twitter that you don't approve of Australia's policy of indefinite detention of asylum seekers & the treatment of children by Australian contractors & the Department of Immigration
3. Learn the facts about refugees & asylum seekers
4. Support the We're Better Than This campaign 
5. Support refugee support groups like Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, Chilout, Asylum Seekers in Nauru etc

Apart

Apart was created & performed by poets, Tania de Rozaria, Jollin Tan, Pooja Nansi, Cyril Wong & Joshua Ip, with playwright Joel Tan.

The five poets spoke and sang with intimate honesty about the self in conflict with, & separation from, family, friends & society as a result of expectations regarding sexuality, body image, relationships etc.

The performance was wonderful.

Earlier that Sunday in the same modern theatre at the National Museum I watched Saint Jack (1979). The movie's final frame captured a shot of Clarke Quay and the Singapore River with it's dilapidated, grotty, decaying shophouses. "Wow." We exclaimed, "Compare that to Clarke Quay now with it's outdoor mushroom/triffid air conditioning, multi coloured, renovated shophouses and reverse bungy. My how Singapore has changed!" 

Rather than compare buildings from 35 years ago to the present, you could compare the representation of Singaporeans in Saint Jack to those in Apart.

During Singapore Writers Festival, Paul Theroux commented that "... Singapore is what you see in a city. A city is all surfaces. It's tall, it's beautiful, it's new, it's rising."

Apart goes beneath the surface.

Where you focus your gaze is important because if you look beneath the shiny surface of Singapore's shopping malls, skyscrapers & majestic public buildings you can see an energy and creativity (as well as some dirt haha) amongst Singapore's poets, playwrights and writers that reflects an individuality and dynamism bubbling away apart from all the commerce & consumerism produced above.

I hope Apart is performed again. So I can experience & think about it more.

Lady Praying & Thich Nhat Hanh

Looking for Each Other

I have been looking for you, World Honored One,
since I was a little child.
With my first breath, I heard your call,
and began to look for you, Blessed One.
I've walked so many perilous paths,
confronted so many dangers,
endured despair, fear, hopes, and memories.
I've trekked to the farthest regions, immense and wild,
sailed the vast oceans,
traversed the highest summits, lost among the clouds.
I've lain dead, utterly alone,
on the sands of ancient deserts.
I've held in my heart so many tears of stone.

Blessed One, I've dreamed of drinking dewdrops
that sparkle with the light of far-off galaxies.
I've left footprints on celestial mountains
and screamed from the depths of Avici Hell, exhausted, crazed with despair
because I was so hungry, so thirsty.
For millions of lifetimes,
I've longed to see you,
but didn't know where to look.
Yet, I've always felt your presence with a mysterious certainty.

I know that for thousands of lifetimes,
you and I have been one,
and the distance between us is only a flash of thought.
Just yesterday while walking alone,
I saw the old path strewn with Autumn leaves,
and the brilliant moon, hanging over the gate,
suddenly appeared like the image of an old friend.
And all the stars confirmed that you were there!
All night, the rain of compassion continued to fall,
while lightning flashed through my window
and a great storm arose,
as if Earth and Sky were in battle.
Finally in me the rain stopped, the clouds parted.
The moon returned,
shining peacefully, calming Earth and Sky.
Looking into the mirror of the moon, suddenly
I saw myself,
and I saw you smiling, Blessed One.
How strange!

The moon of freedom has returned to me,
everything I thought I had lost.
From that moment on,
and in each moment that followed,
I saw that nothing had gone.
There is nothing that should be restored.
Every flower, every stone, and every leaf recognize me.
Wherever I turn, I see you smiling
the smile of no-birth and no-death.
The smile I received while looking at the mirror of the moon.
I see you sitting there, solid as Mount Meru,
calm as my own breath,
sitting as though no raging fire storm ever occurred,
sitting in complete peace and freedom.
At last I have found you, Blessed One,
and I have found myself.
There I sit.

The deep blue sky,
the snow-capped mountains painted against the horizon,
and the shining red sun sing with joy.
You, Blessed One, are my first love.
The love that is always present, always pure, and freshly new.
And I shall never need a love that will be called “last.”
You are the source of well-being flowing through numberless troubled lives,
the water from your spiritual stream always pure, as it was in the beginning.
You are the source of peace,
solidity, and inner freedom.
You are the Buddha, the Tathagata.
With my one-pointed mind
I vow to nourish your solidity and freedom in myself
so I can offer solidity and freedom to countless others,
now and forever.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Singapore Literature Prize & Memory

Ian Chung (moderator) with several shortlisted Singapore Literature Prize writers: Audrey Chin (As the Heart Bones Break), Hidayah Amin (The Mango Tree), Josephine Chia (Kampong Spirit Gotong Royong: Life In Potong Pasir 1955 to 1965), Yong Shu Hoong (The Viewing Party) and Joshua Ip (Sonnets from the Singlish).

During the Q&A the importance of memory & the sense of loss & displacement caused by change were discussed. Points were made that memory is integral to identity, often we feel the loss of something without knowing what was there to begin with, Singaporeans adapt well to change and the younger generation have a different perspective on nostalgia than the 'pioneer generation' (McDonalds & Local TV shows from the 90s vs Trees & Mansions). While everybody longed to recapture that 'kampong spirit' of yesterday, nobody missed the poverty, lack of sewerage and electricity etc etc. As in all Singaporean conversations on memory, Kim Boey Cheng was mentioned ('… never bring up the Fullarton Bay Hotel or you may see tears.'). There was a comment on cyber sex vs real sex but I can't/don't wish to remember the details.

When I think about memory, I also think about: 

• Memory & consumerism: "We're ruined because we get what we want and wish for what we had." Don Draper, Mad Men
• Memory & photography: "Not only is the Photograph never, in essence, a memory (whose grammatical expression would be the perfect tense, whereas the tense of the Photograph is the aorist), but it actually blocks memory, quickly becomes a counter-memory." Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida
• Memory & the "spiral unwinding of things": “Mnemosyne, one must admit, has shown herself to be a very careless girl.” Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory
• Memory & the inside of our heads: “Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library.” Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
• Memory & politics: “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell, 1984
• Memory & Libraries: If books are full of memories & libraries full of books, then what of the removal of certain books from shelves & then their transfer from Childrens' to Adults' Section? Are there memories we are not mature enough to handle? Will the NLB's initial decision to remove And Tango Makes Three, The White Swan Express and Who’s in My Family from its shelves be forgotten? How will this episode be remembered/repackaged/revised/reclaimed/resurrected/removed to a tiny, dusty store room with no windows & forgotten?

Child on a Tricycle, Jakarta & Elton John

The first record I ever bought was Song For Guy (I was very young). I was taken by the ethereal, distance and sadness of the music, the twinkle of stardust, the wind chimes emergent amongst swirling synthesizers, the few words spoken and barely heard in the background.

That was 1978.

Here is a poem to be read while listening to Song for Guy.

Femmes Damnées

The fire is ash: the early morning sun
Outlines the patterns on the curtains, drawn
The night before. The milk's been on the step,
The 'Guardian' in the letter-box, since dawn. 

Upstairs, the beds have not been touched, and thence
Builders' estates, and the main road, are seen,
With labourers, petrol-pumps, a Green Line 'bus,
And plots of cabbages set in between. 

But the living-room is ruby: there upon
Cushions from Harrod's, strewn in tumbled heaps
Around the floor, smelling of smoke and wine,
Rosemary sits. Her hands are clasped. She weeps. 

She stares about her: round the decent walls
(The ribbon lost,her pale gold hair falls down)
Sees books and photos: 'Dance'; 'The Rhythmic Life';
Miss Rachel Wilson in a cap and gown. 

Stretched out before her, Rachel curls and curves,
Eyelids and lips apart, her glances filled
With satisfied ferocity: she smiles,
As beasts smile on the prey they have just killed. 

The marble clock has stopped. The curtained sun
Burns on: the room grows hot. There, it appears,
A vase of flowers has spilt, and soaked away.
The only sound heard is the sound of tears.

Philip Larkin

The Maker of Hindu Deities & Kabir

Happy Deepavali to all. In celebration, set out below is a poem from Kabir, a fascinating poet and religious leader.

I Won't Come

I won’t come
I won’t go
I won’t live
I won’t die

I’ll keep uttering
The name
And lose myself
In it

I’m bowl
And I’m platter
I’m man
And I’m woman

I’m grapefruit
And I’m sweet lime
I’m Hindu
And I’m Muslim

I’m fish
And I’m net
I’m fisherman
And I’m time

I’m nothing
Says Kabir
I’m not among the living
Or the dead

Kabir
Trans. from the Hindi by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra who writes of a story:

"... after he died both Hindus and Muslims laid claim to his body. A quarrel broke out but when they lifted the shroud they saw instead of the corpse a heap of flowers. The two communities divided the flowers and performed Kabir’s last rites, each according to its custom."

Source: Poetry (March 2011) & Poetry Foundation

Boy, Parsi Fire Temple, Kolkata

“Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories...they're the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, loss and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Only the details are different.”

Rohinton Mistry, Family Matters

"The First Parsi to arrive in Singapore – a Crown Colony founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 – was Mr. Muncherjee. When he fell seriously ill in 1929, an Armenian named Aristarcus Sarkies persuaded the Parsis in China to buy a burial place for Zoroastrians in Singapore. Funds were raised by the Parsi Traders to buy a plot of land in the most prestigious banking area of Shenton Way. In 1948, more land was bought adjacent to it to build a bungalow as a Parsi Lodge for Parsi Traders from China to rest and to hold Zoroastrian Religious Ceremonies."

The Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Singapore

The Zoroastrian religion is over 3,500 years old. Originating in Persia, the Zoroastrians were refugees who fled to India in the 10th century to escape oppression.

The Prophet Zarathustra predated Christ. 

Nietzsche had a lot to say about Zarathustra … While Nietzsche's concerns were less about Zoroastrians and more about religion and the nature of man, there was clear intent and meaning in the choice of Zarathustra as his mouthpiece.

"My brother had the figure of Zarathustra in his mind from his very earliest youth: he once told me that even as a child he had dreamt of him. At different periods in his life, he would call this haunter of his dreams by different names; "but in the end," he declares in a note on the subject, "I had to do a PERSIAN the honour of identifying him with this creature of my fancy. Persians were the first to take a broad and comprehensive view of history. Every series of evolutions, according to them, was presided over by a prophet; and every prophet had his 'Hazar,'—his dynasty of a thousand years.""

Mrs Forster-Nietzsche, Introduction to Thus Spake Zarathustra

The Zoroastrian version of the Golden Rule: "What you don't want done to you, don't do to others." Who can disagree with that?

Homework:

1. Freddie Mercury was a Zoroastrian. Analyse the influence of Zoroastrian belief and theology on Bohemian Rhapsody.
2. WB Yeats is said to have contacted Zarathustra through automatic writing. Spend a few hours automatic writing. Speak to Zarathustra and ask him for his views on Nietzsche and Easter 1916. 
3. Zarathustra was said by some to be the son of an alien god. Watch Ridley Scott's Alien and list all arguments in favour of such celestial speculation.