THESE DAYS see me here and there— many say I do nothing: well they may be right. what I do is hear and absorb — both the natural fresh air and the odour of foul chatter. my people— sadly— live unaware my presence taken for granted, and my preemptions denied. MEETING WITH A STRANGER For some odd reason I was halted in my tracts— This strange man with nothing on Wanted to know why I was dressed. What could I say to him? I smiled hoping he’d be satisfied. But he persisted— “Why are you dressed?” I smiled again and sheepishly said— “Because being naked is a luxury, One, I can’t afford, really.” He smiled again, this time ruefully, And said very confidently— “Understand, good Sir, understand The real meaning of the Fall.”
Kirpal Singh is a poet and a literary critic from Singapore. An internationally recognised scholar, Singh has won research awards and grants from local and foreign universities. He was one of the founding members of the Centre for Research in New Literatures, Flinders University, Australia in 1977; the first Asian director for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1993 and 1994, and chairman of the Singapore Writers’ Festival in the 1990s. He retired the Director of the Wee Kim Wee Centre.
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