Young Asian poets woo with words<\/p>\n
Chisato Hara, The Jakarta Post, Ubud, Bali<\/p>\n
A smoky night sky punctuated by pin-prick stars set the mood as
\nSoutheast Asian poets released ballads over those gathered in the
\nopen-air courtyard of the Three Monkeys cafe.<\/p>\n
Along with Australian poet Beatriz Copello, Felix Cheong of
\nSingapore, Conchitina Cruz of the Philippines and Jerome Kugan of
\nMalaysia -- the latter two as yet unpublished -- serenaded the
\naudience with their takes on love in Tropical Heat Wave: Making
\nLove Between the Lines at the recently concluded Ubud Writers and
\nReaders Festival.<\/p>\n
Fleeting encounters<\/p>\n
Conchitina Cruz reads her prose poetry like it is constructed
\nof run-on sentences, almost as though she is trying to capture
\nand record a moment into memory before it disintegrates in the
\nrush of passing time.<\/p>\n
The collection from which she read, Dark Hours, is currently
\nbeing prepared for publication -- her first -- and comprises
\npoems of missed chances, brief exchanges and anonymous brushes
\nwith the possibility of romance.<\/p>\n
\"I mostly focused on living in a city filled with different
\ncharacters,\" said the petite Filipina, who is assistant professor
\nof creative writing at the University of the Philippines in
\nDiliman. The setting is an unnamed metropolis that is \"dreary and
\ndirty and beautiful anyway, despite the mess\".<\/p>\n
Although her countenance is youthful, Cruz's poems of love
\ncenter on the lack of it, as she elaborated, \"on the grief,
\nagony, absence, the longing of love ... which, I guess, is what
\nmost of us are going through. The anonymity and intersections.\"<\/p>\n
One poem, for example, features the perspective of a medical
\nstudent, who interprets love at one point as a scalpel drawn
\nacross skin.<\/p>\n
As for becoming a poet, she said, \"I didn't 'want' to become a
\npoet. It just happened.\"<\/p>\n
Cruz added after a pause, \"Maybe I just had the nerve to make
\nsomething, to create something.\"<\/p>\n
This is the first time she has participated in a literary
\nfestival, and she has found the experience has opened her own
\nhorizons.<\/p>\n
\"It's great listening to other Southeast Asian writers and to
\nfind out that we have similar issues. Political issues,
\ngenerational issues,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"It's a comfort ... It makes the world so much larger, but at
\nthe same time, we're still one community.\"<\/p>\n
Lover of muses<\/p>\n
Of the three Asian poets, Felix Cheong is perhaps the most
\nwell-known, winning the Singapore National Arts Council's Young
\nArtist of the Year Award for literature in 2000, participating in
\nseveral Australian writers festivals and with three poetry
\ncollections in print.<\/p>\n
The freelance writer contributes to Singapore's Today and The
\nEdge tabloids, and is also a part-time lecturer of creative
\nwriting, journalism and communication skills.<\/p>\n
Women of various types feature prominently in his work, such
\nas in The Prostitute (Broken by the Rain: Poems, Firstfruits
\nPublications, p. 29), in which a prostitute studies herself in a
\nmirror, recalling all who had claimed some part of her body.
\nWritten in the first person, the prostitute concludes in almost
\nseething triumph that her eyes ...I recognize\/as wholly,
\nentirely, completely\/mine.<\/p>\n
In his writing, Cheong says, \"Usually, the trigger is a woman.
\nNot necessarily (about) love, but they open the floodgates for
\ndifferent ideas. You know, behind the poet is the muse,\" and sums
\nup his general attitude toward women: \"I value them too much to
\ndemean them.\"<\/p>\n
While he confesses to having \"various muses\", one who has had
\na fundamental influence on Cheong is Singaporean poet Lee Tzu-
\npeng, who mentored him at university. \"You could say, in a sense,
\nI was molded by her,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Cheong also writes prose, but \"fiction is driven by the story.
\nPoems are more intimate, more confessional. There are different
\nvoices, but all are expressions of myself\".<\/p>\n
\"I also like the idea of shocking people, of turning heads ...
\nI like to think of it as playful provocation.\"<\/p>\n
Although he is of Chinese-Peranakan heritage, Cheong composes
\nentirely in English. \"I'm hopelessly incompetent in Chinese,\" he
\nsaid, and described his cultural background as \"a yellow-skinned
\nbanana\".<\/p>\n
This is also his first time at the Ubud festival.<\/p>\n
\"It's good to reintegrate with the ASEAN literary scene. I've
\nbeen too Westernized ... when all the while, in my own backyard,
\nmore stuff is growing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Cheong is now working on his first children's book,
\ncommissioned by the Ministry of Information and Arts.<\/p>\n
Writing the book, which features three teenage paranormal
\ninvestigators, has been \"a lot more difficult than writing
\npoetry. You have to be a lot more savvy about pacing ... it has
\nto be quite snappy, or you'll lose your audience\".<\/p>\n
\"My 10-year-old is my consultant on the book. He's also my
\ncritic. He lets me know when something doesn't work,\" Cheong
\nlaughed.<\/p>\n
Putting music to words<\/p>\n
Instead of reading out his poems, writer and musician Kugan
\nsang, strumming a guitar or performing them acappella, winning
\nwarm applause from the audience.<\/p>\n
\"I approach songs and poetry differently ... poetry is an
\nintellectual exercise. And it's much easier to just sing them, no
\nmatter how corny they are,\" said Kugan, who has no formal musical
\ntraining, and only picked up the guitar five years ago.<\/p>\n
For this performance, he selected those pieces that might fit
\nthe venue and overall theme.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't got too many poems about love. ...Besides, I don't
\nthink my poetry is mature enough. They can get dark and abstract.
\nSo I prefer to sing -- it's nice to put smiles on people's
\nfaces,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A subeditor of a Malaysian magazine, ghostwriter and
\ncontributor to several local magazines and websites, Kugan is
\nalso active in the Kuala Lumpur music scene. This April, he
\norganized a regional singer-songwriter event, Troubadours, as
\npart of the KL Sing Song Festival 2005, featuring musicians from
\nSingapore, the Philippines and Thailand, as well as Indonesia's
\nown Oppie Andaresta.<\/p>\n
Kugan continues to write poetry with an aim to become
\npublished.<\/p>\n
\"But it's slow going in Malaysia. There's no national support
\n-- at least, not as much as in Singapore,\" he said, adding that
\nthere was a tendency not to publish any non-Malay literature.<\/p>\n
Kugan is half Chinese and half Kadazan, a minority group of
\nSabah state, and writes in English.<\/p>\n
\"So culturally, I'm 'in between worlds',\" he laughed,
\nreferring to the Ubud festival's theme. \"...I had a racist thing
\nabout Malay (before). I think Malay should be treated like a
\nculture, and shouldn't be hijacked for political purposes.\"<\/p>\n
The Ubud festival is the second one at which he has been a
\nparticipant, following the Singapore Writers Fest 2005 in August,
\nbut Ubud organizers had invited Kugan after the close of their
\ninaugural festival in 2004.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know why, though. I haven't published a book, I
\nhaven't done anything ... I feel really humbled, surrounded by
\nreally brilliant minds,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"I think writers festivals are strange,\" he added. \"I'm a
\nreader of books, and like the mystique of not knowing the writer
\nbehind the words ... At the same time, it's quite enjoyable,
\nmostly like a support group. I feel like a wide-eyed cartoon.\"<\/p>",
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