Tag: Flinders University

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Poetry

Shakespearian Musings by Kirpal Singh

King Lear, Act I, Scene I (Cordelia’s Farewell) The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Pianting by  Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) From Public Domain. 
DESPERATE LEAR 

against all winds that blow
and all the rains that pour, 
Old Lear still sought home
as we all do sooner or later—

home is where the heart is—
cardiac surgeons locate hearts
but the homes seem elusive
lost perhaps among the veins
and the pulse beats which sound
okay to all intents. 

thus to be without home
ported lustlessness;
perhaps for some despair
too close for comfort 
too close to acknowledge,

And so I roam without a home. 
return to the heart, 
the heart of all things,
and I realise and learn,
my heart is here with me. 
inside and pretty safe,
despite some odd beats
hardening who knows what,

home is where the heart 
returns after all the wandering 
finally settling all debts
owed by the stomach
in desperate circumstances,

Old Lear challenged the gods
but the  duel was one-sided 
no one wanted him
as he wrestled Nature
desperately needing Cordelia,

sometimes our Cordelias die
before they’re properly born-

I know for my Cordelia died 
before she could be born--

she still struggles to learn 
knowing its totally futile. 

after all only in rare miracles 
do we resurrect from the dead,

farewell, my sometime girl, 
perhaps we shall meet 
somewhere in our dreams
and realise all was a nightmare!



POOR HAMLET 

Poor Hamlet 
forgot poor Cordelia
in another realm
also where deceit,
cunning and corruption
ruined innocence, purity
and brought hell to bear.

these poor players 
whose destinies pry
and fathom deep sores, 
some known only alone, 
challenge our premises, 
contentment, pride, joy
and much else besides—

but who are we to probe
and pry and wonder? 
think and cry and ponder 
when it's the same
yonder and everywhere?

in my stillness, my friend 
you who smile all the time 
and beguile love
will never know anguish 
nor the Joy of being 
humanly correspondent 
despite all hints and 
references, nor in the 
byways of escape 
and neither in the grasp
of knowing and suffering 
will you understand, know 
and appreciate 
value and truncated joy. 

in the end, nothing much 
matters more than smug
satisfactions of owning
even in this simple way, 

forgiveness can be all!
Hamlet. From Public Domain.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

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Categories
Poetry

Culture, History and More… in Verse

By Kirpal Singh

CULTURE REDEFINES HISTORY

Who would have thought it’s possible 
To undo centuries of traditions
Trapped and shaped by norms galore?

On New Year Days, we wear black —
Really — it’s the fashion these days! 
Even the Communists prefer black — 
Ditching the red to history’s dustbins!

Tough lessons History teaches, 
So we can make better judgments. 
Alas the mind resists and rejects 
Revisions which suggest undermining. 

How weak our wills and our resolves!


I’M THE GOOD SHEPHERD

I bring you glory and a new life-
History written in the Lamb’s blood
And the Future assured in Love.

We hear and try to fathom meanings
Written in blood — cold and hot, 
Alas, no revelations on the horizons
And no blessings either in the making.

And so we toil and wait,
Toil and wait for a new world, 
Where waiting will be no more 
And promises delivered on call—

Such, such shall be the Arrival 
Of a fresh understanding, 
Of what it means to be human, 
To know flesh and blood and the 
Soul’s search for a new heaven, 
And a new earth brimming, 
Sealing centuries of waiting,
Fulfilling expectations of yore, 
Making past and present and future 
In a miracle beyond reckoning. 
This will come to pass as we sleep…

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Categories
Poetry

‘…The Young in One Another’s Arms…’

By Kirpal Singh 

SPRING IN INDIA

I arrive just as Spring begins —
There are the usual songs
And dancing which excite,
Especially, the merry young.

For oldies, like I, it’s nostalgia. 
I recall Yeats and his haunting line —
The young in one another’s arms —
What happened in my life?
Where did my youth go?

It’s okay mutters a soft voice — 
You have other springs to enjoy!
Excerpted from WB Yeats’s ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ (1927)

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Categories
Poetry

Spasms by Kirpal Singh

Etching by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)
SPASMS

They delight through their insistence
Like some ill found friend,
Who doesn’t know lines drawn,
Keeping deeper knowing at bay.

These spastic breaths do worry
Many, whose heartbeats are dire,
Torn between duty and desire 
Lingering in-between in sadness.

Thus, do I thrust through my days,
Keeping both vigil and dreams, 
Determined to preserve sanctity
Of faith and resilience and Truth.

Someday, it’ll all make sense
Especially to those who keep mum
Fearing repercussions, hiding away 
Guilt and shame and sorrow.

Such intimate knowing is rare
A precious gift to those chosen
To know and bear the cross
Burying in their end the Truth.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Categories
Poetry

Poetry by Kirpal Singh

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.”
The Bard by Benjamin West (1738-1820)

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Categories
Poetry

I sing the body plastic by Kirpal Singh 

Painting by Gita Viswanath
Yes, electric is gone, now it’s plastic—
From sex to food to procreation
Plastic rules the day and rues our time
Making it all easy and oh so convenient! 

All is plastic save, possibly, the brain;
This mass of nerves and neurons
Mirrors the bewilderment outside
Where people die and kill and cry

Where O where is the human 
We crave for meaninglessly?
In the dust bins of our hearts 
Mangled and confused, dying.

Save us O Lord, save us. Save.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Categories
Poetry

Cogitations by Kirpal Singh

Courtesy: Creative Commons
COGITATIONS

I read some of my old letters-
Friends and lovers and miscellaneous.
I wonder if I should keep any?

How does one preserve privacy 
When one is told to donate
Private stuff to libraries?
Because- they flatter—
One is deemed to be special.

I struggle both for right words 
And also right conduct!

In the end I’d probably succumb.
Do what my betters have done:
Donate but with time-limits
So the immediate won’t hurt.

What a privilege to have —
Choose between now or later!

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Categories
National Day Special Poetry

Poetry of Kirpal Singh

My Beloved Singapore

who would have thought
in 50 years you'd grow
from a village/town
to a city/metropolis?

and yet if I had been
attentive, the seeds were sown
and the fruits were expected.

little in my nation
grows spontaneously
there's careful planning,
planting of opportunities
obtaining rewards
for jobs well done.

so now, celebrating
our National Day
comes naturally-
and we rejoice knowing
many become one.
 
Reaching Out...

we are known globally
as a nation of multi-cultures
but we are united as one people.

not an easy goal to realise
knowing how differences divide
and make unity problematic.

despite the given difficulties
we have come through-
showing there is hope
when the desired ends
are commonly shared-
and understood.

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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PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL