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Moving People With Words

Poems on the MRT

Corridor by Theophilus Kwek

 

The raintrees' dance takes lifetimes, years
longer than our music, passing in quick step,
is sovereign to itself, oblivious
of events and, by its own slow grace,

invisible. At this edge of the estate
they rise at arms' length, toes to the line
to keep every heel and turn,
so practiced are they in their variations

that even now, in the silence of the rails
their branches still stretch by habit
across the aisle. Forgetting themselves,
each comes within a breath of another's crown

then stops, carrying in its spread fingers' shade
an imprint of the next living thing, as sky
cracks open unannounced, a bare
blue river in between. Nothing wanes

this force of life in them. More than
time has covered the tracks, and on either side
saved for a while, a seam of someone else's
land unfolds into green. No wonder

the quiet still kneels to meet us here,
a sanctuary so familiar. We walk
with an unaccustomed ease, not touching.
Our joy is the joy of trees.

Published in QLRS Vol. 20 No.1 (2001)

Theophilus Kwek has published four full-length collections of poetry, two of which were shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize. He is the 2023 winner of the Cikada Prize, and part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2024. His next collection, Commonwealth, is forthcoming in 2025.

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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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