SLAM'S ON
Above you, the whirring fan
insists all journeys are circular
as if you have returned
to a place all quite familiar.
The strident sounds repaint a picture
seen long before this first day
waking up again in India.
Just unplug your foreigner's brain
and start to dream in Hindi.
- Hotel Room, Delhi, 1989
Lost on the North Shore Line,
I'm travelling Sydney, station
by station, starting from quiet suburbs. The sun's honey
drips down through the foliage.
Back to tie up loose ends
I see this is no longer my city.
- Lost on the City Circuit
Above me, there are books on an Ikea shelf,
though I live on Ithaca time. A two decade
journey far from my gum tree birth land,
I have travel tales in me and past life epics
collected from continents, carried all the way
by jet, train and bus. Now I am grateful,
waking next to her - my one soft constant.
- Views from My Apartment
Excerpts from Chris Mooney-Singh's 'The Laughing Buddha Cab Company.'
The poems are a reflection of Chris's journey through life. A former journalist, who wrote poems along with articles, Chris embraced Sikhism in 1989. Born in Australia of Australian-Irish descent, he spent over a decade in India before moving to Singapore. His writing shows his deep love, understanding and appreciation of places visited, lived in and loved. He's performed at various literary festivals and in 2003 he
started organising literary events full time. Over the next couple of months, he founded the Poetry Slam in Singapore. Next year, the successful slam, which has drawn several young ones to the world of performance poetry travels to Malaysia. The biggest achievement of Word Forward though is the birth of several young ones. This is reflected in the work of Marc Daniel Nair, Pooja Nansi and Bani Haykal. Their work gets due justice through the covers that tell a thousand poems too. Ketna Patel, the creator of Asian pop art - think Rupee Room, think colour, think character, think stories - has designed more than the covers. As you read the poems, sketches tell another tale. Speaking to Ketna is another journey into the life of the book. Looking at the finished product for the first time, she remembers which one of the sketches was born at Coffee Bean, which one at home, the interviews. Hearing that process is much a joy as reading these poems. They leave me with things to ponder about, the biggest of which is why Chris-Mooney Singh's voice was ignored in a recent anthology that brought together the works Australian and Singaporean poets?
insists all journeys are circular
as if you have returned
to a place all quite familiar.
The strident sounds repaint a picture
seen long before this first day
waking up again in India.
Just unplug your foreigner's brain
and start to dream in Hindi.
- Hotel Room, Delhi, 1989
Lost on the North Shore Line,
I'm travelling Sydney, station
by station, starting from quiet suburbs. The sun's honey
drips down through the foliage.
Back to tie up loose ends
I see this is no longer my city.
- Lost on the City Circuit
Above me, there are books on an Ikea shelf,
though I live on Ithaca time. A two decade
journey far from my gum tree birth land,
I have travel tales in me and past life epics
collected from continents, carried all the way
by jet, train and bus. Now I am grateful,
waking next to her - my one soft constant.
- Views from My Apartment
Excerpts from Chris Mooney-Singh's 'The Laughing Buddha Cab Company.'
The poems are a reflection of Chris's journey through life. A former journalist, who wrote poems along with articles, Chris embraced Sikhism in 1989. Born in Australia of Australian-Irish descent, he spent over a decade in India before moving to Singapore. His writing shows his deep love, understanding and appreciation of places visited, lived in and loved. He's performed at various literary festivals and in 2003 he
started organising literary events full time. Over the next couple of months, he founded the Poetry Slam in Singapore. Next year, the successful slam, which has drawn several young ones to the world of performance poetry travels to Malaysia. The biggest achievement of Word Forward though is the birth of several young ones. This is reflected in the work of Marc Daniel Nair, Pooja Nansi and Bani Haykal. Their work gets due justice through the covers that tell a thousand poems too. Ketna Patel, the creator of Asian pop art - think Rupee Room, think colour, think character, think stories - has designed more than the covers. As you read the poems, sketches tell another tale. Speaking to Ketna is another journey into the life of the book. Looking at the finished product for the first time, she remembers which one of the sketches was born at Coffee Bean, which one at home, the interviews. Hearing that process is much a joy as reading these poems. They leave me with things to ponder about, the biggest of which is why Chris-Mooney Singh's voice was ignored in a recent anthology that brought together the works Australian and Singaporean poets?
Labels: Chris Mooney-Singh, Ketna Patel, Marc Daniel Nair, Pooja Nansi, Word Forward
posted by Read@Peace | 8:05 AM
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