Young Asian poets woo with words

Young Asian poets woo with words

Chisato Hara, The Jakarta Post, Ubud, Bali

A smoky night sky punctuated by pin-prick stars set the mood as
Southeast Asian poets released ballads over those gathered in the
open-air courtyard of the Three Monkeys cafe.

Along with Australian poet Beatriz Copello, Felix Cheong of
Singapore, Conchitina Cruz of the Philippines and Jerome Kugan of
Malaysia -- the latter two as yet unpublished -- serenaded the
audience with their takes on love in Tropical Heat Wave: Making
Love Between the Lines at the recently concluded Ubud Writers and
Readers Festival.

Fleeting encounters

Conchitina Cruz reads her prose poetry like it is constructed
of run-on sentences, almost as though she is trying to capture
and record a moment into memory before it disintegrates in the
rush of passing time.

The collection from which she read, Dark Hours, is currently
being prepared for publication -- her first -- and comprises
poems of missed chances, brief exchanges and anonymous brushes
with the possibility of romance.

"I mostly focused on living in a city filled with different
characters," said the petite Filipina, who is assistant professor
of creative writing at the University of the Philippines in
Diliman. The setting is an unnamed metropolis that is "dreary and
dirty and beautiful anyway, despite the mess".

Although her countenance is youthful, Cruz's poems of love
center on the lack of it, as she elaborated, "on the grief,
agony, absence, the longing of love ... which, I guess, is what
most of us are going through. The anonymity and intersections."

One poem, for example, features the perspective of a medical
student, who interprets love at one point as a scalpel drawn
across skin.

As for becoming a poet, she said, "I didn't 'want' to become a
poet. It just happened."

Cruz added after a pause, "Maybe I just had the nerve to make
something, to create something."

This is the first time she has participated in a literary
festival, and she has found the experience has opened her own
horizons.

"It's great listening to other Southeast Asian writers and to
find out that we have similar issues. Political issues,
generational issues," she said.

"It's a comfort ... It makes the world so much larger, but at
the same time, we're still one community."

Lover of muses

Of the three Asian poets, Felix Cheong is perhaps the most
well-known, winning the Singapore National Arts Council's Young
Artist of the Year Award for literature in 2000, participating in
several Australian writers festivals and with three poetry
collections in print.

The freelance writer contributes to Singapore's Today and The
Edge tabloids, and is also a part-time lecturer of creative
writing, journalism and communication skills.

Women of various types feature prominently in his work, such
as in The Prostitute (Broken by the Rain: Poems, Firstfruits
Publications, p. 29), in which a prostitute studies herself in a
mirror, recalling all who had claimed some part of her body.
Written in the first person, the prostitute concludes in almost
seething triumph that her eyes ...I recognize/as wholly,
entirely, completely/mine.

In his writing, Cheong says, "Usually, the trigger is a woman.
Not necessarily (about) love, but they open the floodgates for
different ideas. You know, behind the poet is the muse," and sums
up his general attitude toward women: "I value them too much to
demean them."

While he confesses to having "various muses", one who has had
a fundamental influence on Cheong is Singaporean poet Lee Tzu-
peng, who mentored him at university. "You could say, in a sense,
I was molded by her," he said.

Cheong also writes prose, but "fiction is driven by the story.
Poems are more intimate, more confessional. There are different
voices, but all are expressions of myself".

"I also like the idea of shocking people, of turning heads ...
I like to think of it as playful provocation."

Although he is of Chinese-Peranakan heritage, Cheong composes
entirely in English. "I'm hopelessly incompetent in Chinese," he
said, and described his cultural background as "a yellow-skinned
banana".

This is also his first time at the Ubud festival.

"It's good to reintegrate with the ASEAN literary scene. I've
been too Westernized ... when all the while, in my own backyard,
more stuff is growing," he said.

Cheong is now working on his first children's book,
commissioned by the Ministry of Information and Arts.

Writing the book, which features three teenage paranormal
investigators, has been "a lot more difficult than writing
poetry. You have to be a lot more savvy about pacing ... it has
to be quite snappy, or you'll lose your audience".

"My 10-year-old is my consultant on the book. He's also my
critic. He lets me know when something doesn't work," Cheong
laughed.

Putting music to words

Instead of reading out his poems, writer and musician Kugan
sang, strumming a guitar or performing them acappella, winning
warm applause from the audience.

"I approach songs and poetry differently ... poetry is an
intellectual exercise. And it's much easier to just sing them, no
matter how corny they are," said Kugan, who has no formal musical
training, and only picked up the guitar five years ago.

For this performance, he selected those pieces that might fit
the venue and overall theme.

"I haven't got too many poems about love. ...Besides, I don't
think my poetry is mature enough. They can get dark and abstract.
So I prefer to sing -- it's nice to put smiles on people's
faces," he said.

A subeditor of a Malaysian magazine, ghostwriter and
contributor to several local magazines and websites, Kugan is
also active in the Kuala Lumpur music scene. This April, he
organized a regional singer-songwriter event, Troubadours, as
part of the KL Sing Song Festival 2005, featuring musicians from
Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand, as well as Indonesia's
own Oppie Andaresta.

Kugan continues to write poetry with an aim to become
published.

"But it's slow going in Malaysia. There's no national support
-- at least, not as much as in Singapore," he said, adding that
there was a tendency not to publish any non-Malay literature.

Kugan is half Chinese and half Kadazan, a minority group of
Sabah state, and writes in English.

"So culturally, I'm 'in between worlds'," he laughed,
referring to the Ubud festival's theme. "...I had a racist thing
about Malay (before). I think Malay should be treated like a
culture, and shouldn't be hijacked for political purposes."

The Ubud festival is the second one at which he has been a
participant, following the Singapore Writers Fest 2005 in August,
but Ubud organizers had invited Kugan after the close of their
inaugural festival in 2004.

"I don't know why, though. I haven't published a book, I
haven't done anything ... I feel really humbled, surrounded by
really brilliant minds," he said.

"I think writers festivals are strange," he added. "I'm a
reader of books, and like the mystique of not knowing the writer
behind the words ... At the same time, it's quite enjoyable,
mostly like a support group. I feel like a wide-eyed cartoon."