From A to Z, an Insomniac Zoetrope Spins through Changi Airport Terminal 3 from Midnight to Dawn by Yeow Kai Chai
Billboard above: Natalie Portman bats.
Bleating lamb: Hushaby, inconsolable babe.
Airsick bacchanal: Grouchy sucks nicotine.
Bidding adieu: Maid’s hangdog daze.
Echolocation tracker: Sniffer smells danger.
Flammable flux: Foul waft flares.
Gates closing: Gizmos scanning pilgrims.
Unlatched pouch: What’s this here?
Night blinkers: With melatonin pill.
Jet-lag high jinks: Jessie J jamming.
Clock jack: Skipping, skidding, spooks!
Exuvial telly: Dilating eyeball rolls…
Mazzy moon: Zombies munch miserably.
Fender bender: Zones on collision.
Gloaming soon: Billow clouds loom.
Pupal passenger: Clasping penguin plushie.
Quiet requiem: Querelle squeals, aquiver.
Revolution arose: Ukraine rips asunder.
Toss aside: Aerosol. Tissues. Slushie.
Satellite orbiting: Silent security monitor.
Duty mugwumps: Gulp Dunkin’ Donuts.
Louvres vent: Loverly divesting vestiges.
Dawn unwrung: Stowaway, wound-up, winces.
Syntax redux: Excuse, exhale, Sphinx.
Daddy hymnal: Casually espy humanity.
Grazer dozer: Lazy Ziploc Zen.
Published in In Transit: An Anthology from Singapore on Airports and Air Travel (2016)
Yeow Kai Chai is a poet, fiction writer, and editor. He has three poetry collections: Secret Manta (2001); Pretend I’m Not Here (2006); and One to the Dark Tower Comes (2020), which was awarded the 2022 Singapore Literature Prize. He has worked as editor-in-chief, entertainment editor and music reviewer in the media, for nearly three decades. He co-wrote Lilla Torg: A Scandinavian Journey (2023); Lost Bodies: Poems Between Portugal and Home (2016); and The Adopted: Stories from Angkor (2015). A co-editor of Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, he was Festival Director of Singapore Writers Festival from 2015 to 2018.
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Letter To My Wife (For Su)
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Love is a Blessing
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Tebrau Straits
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This Rice I Eat
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Towards the Shore of Happiness
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Tuk, Tuk, Tuk
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A Gentle City
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Book Fragrance
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Drunk
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对角戏
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Lover of Verdant Trees
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Morandi Hues
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Nocturne
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Silence that is no more silent
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Stained Glass Window
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Stone
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The Tree at the Library Entrance
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Within/ Without
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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.