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Seventy

for the Tin brothers

Before you close your eyes, do you see

the jungle parting?

Overhead a shotgun fires

through dense palm fronds

a flying fox falls

 

Before the bulldozers come, do you hear

pigs squealing, from dung

water hyacinths sprout

pigs on fire, yelping

fire, fire, growing wings

nesting in attap roofs

igniting homes where

you once played

 

Before it ends, will you remember

the girl across the dance floor

her unavailable smile

the lonely bow of a Tioman ferry

feet dangling, your slipper falls

a speck of black rubber

swallowed by the cresting swirl

2 Comments

  1. Jen Shek Voon Jen Shek Voon

    2018-80 Years & Growing On

    Part 1

    It was necessary
    For Father of the Tins
    To move on
    As Grandpa in HongJiao
    Had wanted
    To fix his marriage,
    So he joined the elite Corp
    Of 16 Young Men
    Hand Picked by
    T V Soong.

    Amended

  2. […] helpfully, in her own way trying to understand my world. (The middle character 锡 or ‘xi’ is his generation’s family name, shared with his […]

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