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Moving People With Words

Poems on the MRT

blue by Madeleine Lee

 

i

look what the choice of a chasoba
brought even if as an after thought
a quail’s egg perched on a daikon slice
a spotted trophy atop a supplicant root
when emptied inside was the palest blue
like the colour of far away sky

ii

when i was little they brought to me
a small nest woven of roots of fern
strands of string extensions of grass
remains of hay in a perfect circle
in it was a small egg in powder blue
like candied almond from a sweet shop

iii

at eleven the driver gave me two budgies
one turquoise blue the other bright green
granny came to plead for their release
without luck later that night under covers
i heard a cage door creak and saw them fly
shooting stars in the smudged night

Published in synaesthesia (2008)

Credit: Russel Wong

Madeleine Lee has published 11 volumes of poetry in English and 1 bilingual (English-Chinese) volume. Her latest "impermanence" is a collection of her work over the last 20 years. She is also the first Singaporean Writer/Poet-in-Residence at The Raffles Hotel Singapore.

https://madeleineleepoetry.com

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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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