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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
The poems in After The Fire explore the themes of migration and settlement, tracking how the Chinese migrant negotiates issues of home and identity, and the liminal spaces between past and future, between the country of birth and the adopted country. They offer insights into the cultural, linguistic and literary adjustments the migrant has to make, revealing an evolving sense of self and place. They also uncover narratives linking Australia and Singapore, and provide new mappings of being simultaneously Asian and Australian. [From Trove record]
Contents
* Contents derived from the
c
Singapore,c
Southeast Asia,
South and East Asia,
Asia,:Firstfruits
, 2006 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.- After the Firei"The man at the crematorium", single work poetry (p. 16-17)
- Kelongi"My father hands me over the sampan's dipping bow", single work poetry (p. 18-20)
- Placenamesi"So late in his life", single work poetry (p. 21)
- Her Handsi"I loved her hands, gnarled,", single work poetry (p. 22-25)
- Remediesi"In childhood the doctor was kept at bay;", single work poetry (p. 26-27)
- Lost Poemi"You wrote a poem once, your hand", single work poetry (p. 28)
- Consulatei"Consulate was the brand he smoked,", single work poetry (p. 29)
- Missing Snapshoti"In a missing photograph you were on a boat", single work poetry (p. 30)
- Prodigali"When I made the flight back", single work poetry (p. 31)
- Plum Blossom or Quong Tart at the QVBi"Stroke by laboured stroke my daughter", single work poetry (p. 32-35)
- Beari"My daughter's teddy bear,", single work poetry (p. 36-37)
- Stamp Collectingi"Starting with Australia, she slides the stamps", single work poetry (p. 38-39)
- Beslani"The thin twirled candles neatly planted", single work poetry (p. 40-41)
- Disappearedi"It happens that friends drop out of your life;", single work poetry (p. 42)
- Bird-Watcher : in Memory of Pamela Talboti"The skies scrubbed clean of birds since you left.", single work poetry (p. 43-44)
- Taizé : in Memory of Brother Rogeri"That week in Taizé", single work poetry (p. 45-48)
- Bodhgayai"Vague Buddhists in uncomprehending ways,", single work poetry (p. 49-55)
- Benaresi"The water summons him to the one place on the ghats", single work poetry (p. 56)
- Quiet Now : Bill Evans 1929-1980i"Tracks, broken up the arm, notes", single work poetry (p. 57-58)
- Slieve Leaguei"Mist erasing his thin bones,", single work poetry (p. 59)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
The 'Swaying Sense of Things' : Boey Kim Cheng and the Poetics of Imagined Transnational Space, Travel, and Movement
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Text , vol. 5 no. 4 2009; Author's Abstract: This article discusses the ways in which Singapore-born poet Boey Kim Cheng wrestles with the idea of travel as an inevitable part of poetic being, negotiating with the multiple meanings of place as geographical location, private memory, personal association, and past fragment. While the act of journeying provides Boey with an occasion for poetry, I argue that it is, more crucially, an ambulatory mode of signification that allows him to figure as well as to figure out the complexities of the craft of poetry-writing itself.
-
The 'Swaying Sense of Things' : Boey Kim Cheng and the Poetics of Imagined Transnational Space, Travel, and Movement
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Text , vol. 5 no. 4 2009; Author's Abstract: This article discusses the ways in which Singapore-born poet Boey Kim Cheng wrestles with the idea of travel as an inevitable part of poetic being, negotiating with the multiple meanings of place as geographical location, private memory, personal association, and past fragment. While the act of journeying provides Boey with an occasion for poetry, I argue that it is, more crucially, an ambulatory mode of signification that allows him to figure as well as to figure out the complexities of the craft of poetry-writing itself.
Last amended 18 Dec 2013 11:39:24
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