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Poems on the MRT

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The Lover as Figured in Impressionist Terms by Jollin Tan

 

In the taxi home the radio station plays old pop ballads
about Peter Pan-Style longing, and the street lamps are gold
on wet tarmac, everything a glossy blur. It becomes odd to think
of myself as part of the scenery, squatting silly amongst the neon
bushes. There in that small space with the leaves on my neck
like cacti, I feel like a small lake hiding an ocean
of spinning gyres, like dancers extending their bodies to the ends
of their ribbons, leaking life. I am not terrified. I want to cross-hatch
myself into this colour scheme, a glowing twig or entire bright field.
One thought becomes porous in my mind and sweats
itself out in my breath: elsewhere, you by a window being stroked
by the sun's cat tail, your shadow moving as if to elongate, and
then running away.

Published in On Holding Space (2021)

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Jollin Tan is a writer and poet. Her first two poetry collections, Bursting Seams and Derivative Faith, are published by Math Paper Press. Jollin’s work can also be found in anthologies such as Body Boundaries, SingPoWriMo The Anthology, Balik Kampung 3B: Some East, More West. Her poetry has also been curated for Prairie Schooner and the Singapore Writer’s Festival.

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Poems on the MRT is an initiative by the National Arts Council, in partnership with SMRT and Stellar Ace. Produced by Sing Lit Station, a local literary non-profit organisation, this collaboration displays excerpts of Singapore poetry throughout SMRT’s train network, integrating local literature into the daily experience of commuters. Look out for poems in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in trains on the East-West, North-South and Circle Lines, as well as videos created by local artists and featuring local poets in stations and on trains. The Chinese, Malay, and Tamil poems are available in both the original languages and English. To enjoy the full poems, commuters may read them on go.gov.sg/potm.

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