Interlogue

Lee Tzu Pheng:

But how may such words suffice
That touch his sufferings, barely?
- Way of the Cross

Meeting you, the wave
breaks
I see you at last:
the waters of pain in your eyes
wash over me: sorrow is mine,
your sorrow too
deeply mine
- Against The Next Wave

Kirpal Singh:

my citizenship is your intimacy, the flesh
hidden in your bones beneath the skin.
- Introduction

Alvin Pang:

I take a word
and insert it into the
space between us.

Does that connect us? Only
if you take it in
and make it your own.
- Language, like Love

Goh Sin Tub:

Silent sips of kopi-o-kosong
The amah says three/ Ah Goh says one
As through the many-layered corridors of HDBs

All the while we spoke so much
We said no words -
Minds meeting in scrutable pensive sips
Have no need for lips
- My Friend, My Enemy

Robert Yeo:

Robinson returns to Raffles Place/Yaohan outdoes Changi/as a picnic spot

All is lost that we used to lose
In childhood we find what we lose
What we lose as adults we lose indeed
- Elegy to Changi Beach

Edwin Thumboo:

Landscapes grip your senses.