Who shall sing for this child?

Mitt Ann

This land is domicile
watery bodies, post-partum
pulse-like undulations through its walled channels;
borders govern the world, not without dissent.

As coughing waves
nose the straight shorelines,
the sea-wash stirs 
the side-grass out of dead land,
I play with soil and
sea, under a falling fog: 
accept an immoral ripening 
between letter and number 
intemperate reasonableness.

Forbearing what is straight and winding,
cursive letters ram-caught in a muddy thicket,
begets a swollen Singaporean breed –  
merlion social scientist – 
whose tongue is babel-raised 
on a sea-potter’s wheel.

O, who shall ordain this marriage, lifelong? 
How shall I look for a prophet,
a priest, or may a poet suffice 
to marry the damned scientist
and the despised literati?

The Science

Nature’s architectures are not merely decorative, but how they are shaped can shape our thinking. When we consider the sea processes and their constant influence on sea features – natural water erodes, deposits, and transports, we then relate to a shifting schema of interacting lines and curves at sea, particularly the shape of shorelines or channel walls. This poem muses on the geographical landscapes near sea as metaphors for the contradictory positions of artists and social scientists. The Merlion (Line 19) is the national symbol of Singapore. It is a mythical creature - half-lion and half-fish.

This submission is also inspired by Prof. Ian Shaw, whom I met on a research module at NUS. The “coughing waves” (Line 6) is a phrase inspired by a line in Derek Walcott’s poem ‘Parades, Parades’. No other intentional links are made between this poem and mine.

The Poet

Mitt Ann read Social Work and English Literature at the National University of Singapore. Influenced by T. S. Eliot, Derek Walcott, and Marianne Moore, his works have been published in various literary journals. His works can be found on mitt-ann.com.

Next poem: Chaos Theory by Lynne Goldsmith