Asian Centre Anthology of Malaysian Poetry in English

By Partridge Publishing Singapore

Malaysian writing in English has had a history of over five decades since Malaysia attained independence. This anthology of Malaysian poetry in the English language represents the most complete single collection of poems by veteran as well as new authors to be released in recent decades.

In keeping with general trends in poetry, the poets presented in this volume begin with themselves as centres of their own little worlds and then move outwards to those still close to them in different kinds of situations and relationships. They touch upon individual growth and experiences before taking the world and its concerns into their purview. Other poems explore religious and spiritual consciousness. The potential that Man has on his journey of life leads beyond his daily obsessions and takes him into realms of expanding consciousness, with the final stages of the long journey reaching the transcendental and mystical. Altogether, while providing a spectrum of recent Malaysian poetry in English, this collection also gives the reader insights into the unique voices of several generations of Malaysian poets dealing with a whole range of themes connected with their lives, universal issues and concerns.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jun 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482823745

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof.

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4828-2373-8

                Softcover        978-1-4828-2372-1

                eBook             978-1-4828-2374-5

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Poems & Poets

Coasting On

Tissue

Solitude

Mh370

Falling Bodies

Sacred/Primitive

The Passion

Vacare

Beneath The Layers

Verve

Mama Black Sheep

Procrastinate

Prayer

Metaphors

Human Error

The 2Am Flight

The Divine Sermon

Hi

Lachrymal Hope

Our Life

A Family Affair

The Clown

The Collector

The Objects

The Man With No Name And His Mother

End Of An Era.

If Books Were People.

The Ride Home.

The Lost Garment Of Haya

The Tragic Play

Do Not Curse The Rains

Thin Air

No Friend Of Mine

Mute Resistance

Rain In The Kampong

Pulau Kapas

Garden Weed

Graduation

Risks

Theft

Binaries That Bind

Tracking Time

Word-On-Word… Frippery

Dark Matter

Neuralgia

Folly

What Have We Become?

Let’s Go There, Now

Have I Been Forgiven?

Ode To A Rose

Conceptualising You

Of Self And Nature

Existence

Mumbles

Time Which Flows

Journey

Symphony

Leisure

The Gospel Of Ordinariness

Message From A Leaf

Hamlet

Dialogue Between Day And Night

The Sea And I

Renewal

I Leave Him

Reminiscence Of The Past

A Worker’s Woe

Peddlers

Ocean Of Meaninglessness

A Change Is Going To Come

A Figure Forgotten In Hours Not-Of-Need

Between Fairies And Werewolves

Peace, Progress, Prosperity

The Fragility Of Life

The Lament Of A Young Yemeni Girl

A Walk To Remember

I Lost My Voice

Tall Buildings

When I Was Small

The Job

The Paradox

Droplets

Heaven

A Long Walk Back Into Herstory

Cyberious Tree

Parang

Lighting Over Sandakan

A Homeland

Uneasy

Life

Demon And Light

Not To Worry

A Day Alone At The Klcc Park (On A Bench Facing The Dancing Fountains)

One Night

Coincidentally, Murder

Demons Of Youth

Gemilang

Untitled

The Flame

Untitled

Unnamed Piece

The Prayer

Akad Nikah

Repetition

The Art Of Letting Go

I Am Who I Am

Spread Your Wings

Part Poem

On Honest Days

I Have Taken Up Cooking

The Cranes

Genesis 3:17-19

The Best Moments

Psithurism

What Is Love?

Movies In My Head

Friend

Courage

My Winged Termite

Mind

Custodial Deaths

One Christmas Morning

Things Unsaid

Indiscretion

Twenty Years On …

Nothing Prepares You For Love

Professor Dato’ Dr Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof

Endnotes

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T he editor would like to gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and assistance of the authors. He would like to thank Alana Azlan and Salmyyah Raheem for their tireless assistance in compiling and proofreading the selected poems, and for their crucial support in the launch of this project. Our gratitude also goes to Yau Sim Mei for her generous support. It is hoped that such effort will continue in the writing and promotion of Malaysian literature in the English lan guage.

INTRODUCTION

D uring the past several decades, Malaysian creative writing in the English language has been on a roller-coaster of decline, mostly, and occasional rise. This has been due to the aftermath of the May 13 1969 race riots and government policies since then with regard to the status of the English language. The effects of these policies on the lives of all Malaysians have been significant in one way or another. As far as literary expression in the English language goes, they have been mostly negative when the total ripple effect of the near-total abandonment or deliberate neglect of English in the education system as a whole is taken into consideration, no matter how such policies are justified in terms of nationalism, national unity and so on. Just in passing, it may be noted that, increasingly, it has become apparent that in those areas too, the policies have not been entirely succe ssful.

This is clearly seen on the ground; unfortunately, the best indication of failure has been the serious decline in the standard of education in the country at virtually all levels, something which has become a theme of constant lamentation. This is not to denigrate the worth of the national language, Bahasa Melayu, and its role in the development of national identity. Nor is the intention here to devalue other languages spoken and written in the country, belonging to people to provide the rich mosaic of diversity that characterizes the nation itself. Indeed, in some ways multiculturalism and multilingualism are what give this country its unique identity. Our focus, in keeping with the purpose of the present volume, is the English language; more particularly our concern is with the English language as a medium of literary expression.

The pressures on English language writing have been considerable; to this we shall presently return after taking note of the fact that other elements too have played a part upon creative writing. The most detrimental of these has been that of censorship in its various shapes as well as forms, including, by reflection, self-censorship. In certain genres, particularly the drama, this has had devastating effects. The pressures on the English language, then, have been serious, coming into position following the first National Cultural Congress of 1971 which, while significantly establishing Bahasa Melayu as the national language of the country, also gave unqualified recognition to literatures in other languages,