Penang

and here's another poem i wrote slightly more than a year ago... it was probably inspired by Isobel Dixon's "Plenty" which was one of my favourite poems from the "Songs of Ourselves" anthology we studied for IGCSE. "Plenty" is an amazing poem which really draws us a picture of the kind of world the poet was living in, and i feel that my own poem really does convey the appropriate imagery that allows one a peek into the world of my childhood.... i only spent an average of a month a year in my grandmother's house in Penang, and yet, some of my happiest memories stem from there... as i grow up, it gets harder to enjoy the liberty of staying at Ah-Ma's house. nonetheless, i hope to visit there every year... =)

just to let you know, my mum thought it was good and thus shared it with my dad and my brother. BAD IDEA.

my brother came up with a parody poem talking about his addiction to computer games while my dad complained that my poem didn't rhyme and thus couldn't be considered a poem... =_=

Penang

a resonating warmth greets my toes,
as I splash tap water
to bathe my dusty feet.

as I wash,
the pail is beautiful
and familiar in my hands,
and it smiles at me.

in the house,
every room smells of memories,
blankets, and the spin of the fan,
soothing the simmering heat.
an ancient clock ticks
to sound the passing of an age,
that flew
without us knowing.

and as the house swells with
laughter and tears,
the hands of the clock
refuse to turn back,
and buy us a little more nighttime.

but no matter how fast,
or how cruelly, dawn comes,
the pitter-patter of feet,
and the crunch of a biscuit,
and the taste of burning incense
will not cease to resound,
upon the ceramic walls of my
lost childhood.