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Moving People With Words

Poems on the MRT

Ketawa by Charlene Shepherdson

 

Translation:
I learnt to play congkak in school.
One seed, two seeds, three,
saga seeds grouped in my palm.
Hands always too small, I’d lose them when they fell.

My tongue can’t hold on to the history of my family.
Like angsana seeds, the seeds of stories fly in the wind.

In school, they never taught us to cheat at congkak.
Our lessons were too proper, like my Bahasa Baku.

Mum always scolds, “Grandma does not understand!”
Her ears are for the language of the streets, always in-between.

I keep quiet.
My language is always in the middle too
The words are Malay but they follow English’s rules.
Eurasian meets Peranakan,
we are borrowed
culture.

In school, I never won at congkak.
There were too many ways to count to ten.
Now an adult, my heart is happy.
At least Grandma laughs
—a granddaughter she doesn’t understand.

— Published in SingPoWriMo 2014

Charlene Shepherdson is an interdisciplinary writer based in Singapore who creates experiences using visual text, interactive narratives and historical archives. The breadth of their practice spans poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art installations and social sculptures with a deep focus on the ideas that exist in the in-betweens. In this nebulous space, they facilitate communities and hold space for them to share their stories - to reclaim, reframe and reimagine their realities.

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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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