Poetry
Cyril Wong came out into the scene in 2000 with poetry that was confessional in style but universal in scope. Completely "out" in newspaper and magazine interviews, he is the first and only openly-gay poet to win the National Arts Council's Young Artist Award for Literature and the Singapore Literature Prize. His books are published by Firstfruits in Singapore:
- Squatting Quietly
- The End of His Orbit
- Below: Absence
- Unmarked Treasure
- Like a Seed With its Singular Purpose
- Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light (Listed by The Straits Times as among the best five books of 2007)
- Straw, Sticks, Brick
(Read reviews of Wong's work archived on his website:)
Alvin Pang's "The Scent of the Real", which refers to Cyril Wong, is value-neutral and mentions Cyril Wong's sexuality as a fact, not as something disgusting or abject.
Toh Hsien Min and Yong Shu Hoong have written poems about friends coming out to them in "On a Good Friend's Admission that he is Gay" and "A Friend's Confession". Both were suspicious that their friends wanted sexual relations with them.
Gwee Li Sui in the eponymous book with the poem Who wants to buy a book of Poems refers to the stereotype of poets as limp-wristed and "ah kua" - although admittedly this is not the first time this concept has been explored. The book, which claims to have been privately circulated for 3 years before being published seems to explore a similar theme that has been previously explored in other works, including those of the poets mentioned in the above. In the following poem, "Edward", he depicts the sad life of a cross-dresser past his prime.
Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry collection, last boy, contains many lyrical poems celebrating and reflecting on gay love and sexuality.
Read more about this topic: Singapore Gay Literature
Famous quotes containing the word poetry:
“For poetry makes nothing happen:”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“The way in which modern German poetry follows theories reminds me of pupils who, scolded by their teacher for their insubordination, justify themselves by saying that they invented new rules of propriety according to which they are quite well- behaved.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“Love’s the only thing I’ve thought of or read about since I was knee-high. That’s what I always dreamed of, of meeting somebody and falling in love. And when that remarkable thing happened, I was going to recite poetry to her for hours about how her heart’s an angel’s wing and her hair the strings of a heavenly harp. Instead I got drunk and hollered at her and called her a harpy.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)