The Doll - Hilary Tham

Mother said:

“I cannot afford to buy one but I will make you

a doll.”

2 Popsicle sticks

crossed and tied with string.

2 eyes with brows pencilled in.

A quick stroke of another pen

made a scarlet smiling mouth. Then

a dab of glue and cotton wool.

2 scraps of cloth from the sewing

basket, with lace tacked on.

And Doll was fully formed, with

a change of clothes to hand.

Doll lived under my pillow for years.

She did not meet the porcelain doll,

the plastic dolls on our street.

They had real hair, hands with fingers

and toes on their feet.

The Last Dollar – Hilary Tham

Growing up in a dirt lane of shacks,
far from the brick mansions of rich
relatives, I did not feel poor.
After all, our house had a zinc
roof and a real cement floor.
We had a father who worked, a mother
who managed to feed us a little
vegetable with rice
even at month’s end
when neighbors’ children
ate gruel.

The nuns at school asked for help
with the fair to raise money
For The Poor. In a glow of goodwill
I volunteered (it would only cost a dollar)
a gallon of black sea-grass jelly
to make drinks to sell.

Mother cried when I told her.
It was the end of the month
and her last dollar was for food.
She gave me the dollar and we ate gruel
that week, the first time I knew
mothers can cry.

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.

Parents' Evening

We’re waiting in the corridor.
My dad, my mum and me.
They’re sitting there and talking;
I’m as nervous as can be.
I wonder what she’ll tell ‘em.
I’ll say I’ve got a pain!
I wish I’d got my spellings right.
I wish I had a brain.

We’re waiting in the corridor.
My husband, son and me.
My son just stands there smiling;
I’m smiling nervously.
I wonder what she’ll tell us.
I hope it’s not all bad.
He’s such a good boy, really;
But dozy – like his dad.

We’re waiting in the corridor.
My wife, my boy and me.
My wife’s as cool as a cucumber;
I’m nervous as can be.
I hate these parents’ evenings.
The waiting makes me sick.
I feel just like a kid again
Who’s gonna get the stick.

I’m waiting in the classroom.
It’s nearly time to start.
I wish there was a way to stop
The pounding in my heart.
The parents in the corridor
Are chatting cheerfully;
And now I’ve got to face them,
And I’m nervous as can be.

- Allan Ahlberg

[shuyan]

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

- Ezra Pound

[shuyan]

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Filled with snow.

- Langston Hughes

[shuyan]

2 mothers in a hdb playground

ah beng is so smart,
already he can watch tv and know the whole story
your kim cheong is also quite smart,
what boy is he in the exam?
this playground is not too bad, but I'm always
so worried, car here and car there.

at exam time, it's worse

because you know why?

kim cheong eats so little.

give him some complan. my ah beng was like that,
now he's different, if you give him anything
he's sure to finish it all up.

sure, sure, cheong's father buys him
vitamins but he keeps it inside his mouth
& later gives it to the cat.
i scold like mad but what for?
if I don't see it, how can I scold?

on saturday, tv showed a new type,
special for children , why don't you call
his father buy some? maybe they are better.

money's no problem , it's not that
we want to save, if we buy it
& he doesn't eat it, throwing money
into the jamban is the same.
ah beng's father spends so much,
takes out the mosaic floor & wants
to make terrazzo floor or what.

we also got new furniture, bought from diethelm
the sofa is so soft, I dare not sit, they all
sit like don't want to get up, so expensive.
nearly two thousand dollars, sure must be good.

that you can't say, my toa-soh
bought an expensive sewing machine,
after 6 months,it is already spoilt,
she took it back but.....beng,
come here, come, don't play the fool.
your tuition teacher is coming,
wah, kim cheong, now you're quite big.

come cheong, quick go home and bathe.
ah pah wants to take you chya-hong in a new motor-car

- Arthur Yap

[shuyan]