All Entries in the "E-zine" Category

Creative Non-Fiction: Wake From – Mia Tijam (Philippines)

Wake from
I’m awake
It’s 3:05 am
It’s still night
…………..My eyes are open:
…………..I saw that I was somewhere— carnival or circus—somewhere high with a roller-coaster and flapping flags in the blue and white sky. There were people laughing and talking about where to go, what to ride, where to play billiards, where to eat and drink after.
…………………..He was [...]

Poem – Akehiro Shirai (Japan)

The border at the back
The north and the east
adjacent to here

Poem – Mike Ladd (Australia)

White medusa
above our reef,
we watch its life-cycle
a fathom down.

2 Poems – Bishnu N. Mohapatra (Trans. from Oriya, India)

Mornings are all different.
Autumnal, tranquil, cloudy,
tigerish, brave.

Poem – Felix Cheong (Singapore)

(for Anne, my e-pal)

Not your face, not your voice,
nor the radius of your gaze.

12 Poems – Jan Erik Vold (Norway)

A Bottle-Born Letter For Robben Island
(For Nelson Mandela)
I TAKE A FELT PEN
and draw
an
Indian
on the canvas
of the sky. That is my
monument. That is the help
we’re looking
for. I put the sketch in an
envelope
and send it
to Robben Island.
EVEN IF I’VE FORGOTTEN
the zip
code. Even
if I’ve forgotten the bank
account. Even if I’ve forgotten
the social service
number, the
passport number, the bicycle
number. I [...]

Poem – H.S. Shivaprakash (trans. from Kannada, India)

Rock Garden Meditation

fifteen stones in the garden
the fourteen are in the eye
the fifteenth, in mind
two stones, big and small,
about to hug and kiss
stopped and stilled for ever
this owl-like stone wanting
to grow into a hill sky-high
was humbled and made small
the islands drowned in sea
s
have floated back to the surface
in a pond of tiny stones
sculptures waiting to [...]

Poem – Theophilus Kwek (Singapore)

Little India

Smiles are not returned in Little India
where dreams are stolen rather than softly scribbled;
shophouses shrink from each other, their mandarin letterings
dissolving alongside the Sikh script
beneath gold mango lassi
into dirty puddles.
The young bachelor
of commerce selling phonecards on the corner
can tell you that citizenship
means more to him than most Singaporeans
because it would take him off the [...]

Poem – Yusuf Martin (Malaysia)

Estranger

you were Cliff
i was John

we didn’t belong on the same planet
let alone the same family

when you discarded lumberjack shirts and blue jeans
i donned military jacket
put flowers in my hair

you stopped being a bachelor boy
i became a walrus

you had kids
i had orgasms

you – weeding
i – weed

there was no way that we were going [...]

Key Note Speech, READING YOUNG, WRITING YOUNG, Jose Dalisay Jr. Phd. Lit Up Singapore

Opening Ceremony July 18 2009.
Keynote
Many many thanks, first of all, for inviting me to this wonderful festival of reading and writing for the young people of Singapore. I’ve been here a few times, but this is the first time that I’ll be addressing such a large and distinguished audience.
I’d like to [...]