Cyril Wong: “if”, as the word is a threshold to infinite possibility. Sekaliwags: notes towards performing disempowerment, Globalization and its discontents: Narrating change and continuity in Claire Tham’s The Inlet. Singapore Literature Prize-winning writers Cyril Wong and Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde have some ideas. CYRIL WONG Posted on March 27, 2015 by the Author Poet, fictionist and critic in Singapore. / But is the book better? Singapore: Firstfruits Publications. In Molly Roffey’s Irish Pub, Beauty’s Newest and Brightest Beholders Gather to Talk Poetry. By sometime next year, I’m just going to stop; yes, stop publishing, stop working with governmental organisations, even stop writing.”. Gender Matters: A Conversation about Women in Writing. Reinventing English Language and Literature for the Next Generation, A Sensual Pulse – Review of Lydia Kwa’s Pulse, Displacement|Rootedness: Jerrold Yam’s Intruder, Gregory Nalpon’s “The Wayang at Eight Milestone: Stories and Essays”, The Colin Cheong Collection: Throwback Thursdays, Thoughts on Balik Kampung 2B: Contemplations, An Eyebrow for An Eyebrow: A review of Cyril Wong’s The Dictator’s Eyebrow, If you didn’t catch this play, then you were a…, There are worse things, surely,/than desire unmet: Tania De Rozario’s Tender Delirium, Tembusu College Student’s Tea with Pooja Nansi. Listen to Cyril Fouchouchpoulp | SoundCloud is an audio platform that lets you listen to what you love and share the sounds you create.. Jakarta. After You by Wong, Cyril (0) Close S$26.75 Online Price S$24.07 Kinokuniya Privilege Card Member Price Availability Status : In stock at the Fulfilment Centre. Cyril Wong is the author of The Lover’s Inventory, and other works of poetry and fiction in Singapore. An Interview with Cyril Wong Asiatic, Vol. Emily of Emerald Hill: A Modern Asian Woman? Cyril Wong is the author of poetry collections such as Unmarked Treasure (2012), Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light (2012), The Dictator’s Eyebrow (2013), After You … In light of the recent NLB decable over the unwise pulping of And Tango Makes Three, The White Swan Express and Who’s in My Family, Wong had announced his frustration in a Straits Times article: “As a queer writer, I think I have reached a limit of some sort, in the light or dark of recent events. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and … we stand touch kiss Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2012. Then I sneaked in the “gay” aspect. Wong served at various times as a creative-writing instructor for the Singapore Association for Mental Health and the Ministry of Education’s Creative Arts Programme, an arts manager at The Substation, as well as a book and performing arts reviewer for The Straits Times. : Utter 2014 / Reinventing English Language and Literature for the Next Generation / / There is something charmingly universal and relatable about the collection’s account of same-sex relationships, depicting a familiar intimacy (“every night our brows meet before we fall apart in sleep”), anxiety (“should we say goodbye now or when it is too late”), heartache (“with you gone we become almost inseparable now”) and joyful resilience (“another day to love would do us just fine”) that we know of relationships. After You is Cyril Wong’s latest collection of poems, which discusses same-sex love, inevitable loss, and the fragility of testimony. could be better than this. Cyril Wong Yit Mun (b. categories Published with permission tags Cyril Wong , Heat , Weather , Intermezzo , Thanksgiving WHO’S GUILTY OF EATING EXPIRED FOOD, TOO? Cyril Wong has 58 books on Goodreads with 5393 ratings. I believe this collection can make significant headway for LGBT discourse in Singapore. Besides poetry, he also published two collections of short stories and two novels, most recently This Side of Heaven (2020). In my humble opinion, NLB’s pulping of the books was ultimately a beneficial move for LGBT discourse in Singapore (even though it might not have been their intention haha). Cyril Wong has been called a confessional poet, according to The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry (2013), based on “the brutally candid sexuality in his poetry, along with a barely submerged anxiety over the fragility of human connection and a relentless self-querying”. This is perhaps best encapsulated in an excerpt from the poem, Sameness: let’s go deeper CYRIL WONG has been called a confessional poet, according to The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry, based on “the brutally candid sexuality in his poetry, along with a barely submerged anxiety over the fragility of human connection and a relentless self-querying”. While the collection ruminates about death and focuses on the inevitable loss and eventual parting of lovers, a heartening sense of acceptance and joyful resilience permeates the narratives of loss and heartache. 2010 – oneiros 2011 – . In his latest novel, This Side Of Heaven, Wong… According to The Routledge Concise History of Southeast Asian Writing in English, “Wong has many styles, all of them limber, which combine the anecdotal and the confessional with the intuitive and the empathetic”. 1, June 2014 231 person to realise she is doing something wrong. I slow your hand in my poem’s last line. 21 Followers. Cyril has 7 jobs listed on their profile. He lives in Singapore and edits the poetry webjournal, SOFTBLOW. Honestly, I would not have known about the above 3 books if not for the banning decision and I am sure that is the same for many others. Cyril Wong (simplified Chinese: 黄益民; traditional Chinese: 黃益民; pinyin: Huáng Yì Mín; born 27 June 1977) is a poet, fictionist and critic. The person I mostly base my character on passed away more than four, five Every morning I don’t know why I’m bothering anymore. 2007 – Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light. Author Photo © Jon Gresham. But if you have been keeping up with the news on Singapore’s literary scene, then you would definitely have read about esteemed Singaporean poet, Cyril Wong. After You By Cyril Wong / In Molly Roffey’s Irish Pub, Beauty’s Newest and Brightest Beholders Gather to Talk Poetry. We keep miscommunicating. Even though the reader initially suspects that their shared dream of retiring in time and literary indulgence was unachievably impractical in the monotonous bustle of everyday commitments, “how impossible in Singapore although we hunt for time”, the poem undercuts this expectation of inevitable loss due to the insufficiency of time and the poem ends with a twist; the couple achieves their past dreams despite the time constraints of the present: in a quickening dream of now 1st Ed This pattern of loss intertwined with an unexpected gratitude for the ordinariness is what I enjoy most in this collection of poems. 2nd Ed. View Cyril Wong’s profile on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional community. Cyril Wong’s most popular book is Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light. Popspoken: If not a poet, you might The first edition of Let Me Tell You Something About That Night: Strange Tales by Cyril Wong was first published by Transit Lounge (Australia) in 2009. I have a long poem in Like a Seed with Its Singular Purpose that deals extensively with the playfulness surrounding this word. How do you live with yourself Cyril Wong is the author of The Lover’s Inventory, and other works of poetry and fiction in Singapore. After Aesop Cyril Wong A camel prays for horns or tusks in order to protect himself. All rights reserved. nothing we ask for At the Seoul Fringe Festival, he performed as a renegade countertenor. Cyril Wong He is the Singapore Literature Prize-winning author of poetry collections such as Unmarked Treasure, Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light, The Dictator's Eyebrow and After You. A recipient of the 2005 National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award and the 2006 and 2016 Singapore Literature Prize, he studied at St. Patrick’s School and Temasek Junior College, and completed his doctoral degree in English Literature at the National University of Singapore in 2012. He was a featured poet at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2003. Stream Tracks and Playlists from Cyril Fouchouchpoulp on your SINGAPORE - What happens after you die? Cyril Wong is the author of four collections of poetry in Singapore. Plainspeak: Holes, Lines, Bonny Hicks Whether we know it or not, we still wait for each other to go. Join us on Instagram Live @booksactually with poet Cyril Wong on 14th May, Thursday at 2pm. After all, if one can identify with the love, belonging and vulnerability in a same-sex relationship depicted in the poetry (that is no different from a heterosexual one), what can there be left of irrational homophobia? Reader Reviews: “Wong takes fairytales and works them into a surreal lustre…the heart of these stories gestures … His last work was Satori Blues (Softblow Press 2011). you choose to leave me let me let you. Cyril Wong is the author of poetry collections such as Unmarked Treasure (2012), Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light (2012), The Dictator’s Eyebrow (2013), After You (2013), The Lover's Inventory (2015) and Infinity Diary (2020). He has also published Ten Things My Father Never Taught Me and Other Stories and a … and he ruminates about “dying alone is the worst thing on my mind”. you read while stroking my nape His last book of poems was The Lover’s Inventory (Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2015). REVIEW: Guinotte Wise Cyril Wong is a poet and fictionist in Singapore. I would write poetry full time. Cyril Wong is prolific poet and fictionist whose last book of poems, The Lover’s Inventory, received the 2016 Singapore Literature Prize. Author Biography © Cyril Wong. Don't miss this and we will also be taking questions! anxiousness what about love Review of Christine Chia’s Separation: a history, My two cents on Verena Tay’s “Balik Kampung 2A: People and Places”, Personal reflections on Fish Eats Lion; An Anthology of Home-grown Speculative Fiction, Story Slam Singapore 8 – The Weirdest Stuff I’ve Seen, A Gift Worth Sharing: A Poetry Reading session with Jason Wee, Lit Up 2014: A Review of “Everybody Hertz”, “Seeing anew, speaking things anew, and doing things anew.”, Afterwords: “Passages” – Stories of Unspoken Journeys (or not?). The grass shines greener in the neighbour's pasture. Similarly in the poem Last Line, the persona discusses the temporary daily partings and departure from their shared dream in the past: that we might retire in time In the poems Fire and Last Line, the theme of loss and parting due to the passage of time is outlined in the first few stanzas before the poem ends with a final stanza capturing the preciousness of the present moment of togetherness. His poems were interpreted through dance at the 2004 Queensland Poetry Festival and his verse monologue, "Still Flight", was presented at the 2005 Magdalena International Festival of Women in Contemporary Theatre (USA). Cyril Wong is the author of twelve poetry collections (his latest was After You from Math Paper Press), one collection of short-stories and a novel. Cyril Wong (黄益民; Huáng Yì Mín; born 27 June 1977) is a poet, fictionist and critic. despair. Close All the Windows by Cyril Wong After discovering the Internet, my mother has trouble finding a connection, and calls me up for help while I am at work. Infinity Diary, Cyril Wong (Seagull, May 2020) With that in mind, the high point of the collection may well be “Between You and Infinity”, its short lines ratcheting up the tempo,with iambic blocks averaging thirteen lines, interspersed with formal, nautically themed haiku, which comply initially with the strict 5-7-5 syllable count before easing off toward the end of the piece. A raven longs to be a swan. It is almost as if the poet’s focus on death and loss accentuates gratitude for present happiness. Yet just as the poem appears to embark on this mournful trajectory of unavoidable loss and decay, the poem wrestles away from the linearity of a predictable end and celebrates the joy of the present moment: the fire everywhere Australia: Transit Lounge Pub. 1977, Singapore–) is an award-winning poet and writer. Dubbed as Singapore’s “first confessional poet”, Mr Wong has numerous accolades under his belt. our razers will burn Plainspeak: Holes, Lines, Bonny Hicks Whether we know it or not, we still wait for each other to go. I certainly hope that that is not the case, fingers crossed for future works from him anyway. Another charming quality in this collection of poetry would be a humbling and pervasive relatability in the poems. 147 Literature Cyril Wong When we dated, I was impressed by how much you read: from Angela Carter to Arundathi Roy; I thought it was cute how you’d keep score, as if reading could be a competition. Cyril Wong June 1, 2012 / mascara / 0 Comments Cyril Wong is the author of nine poetry collections and one collection of strange tales. 1st Ed. Indeed, once we peel away the identity markers of sexuality or even race, gender or class, love is a universal human quality that brings the same vulnerabilities of “anxiousness”, “despair” and that at the end of the day, there is “little difference”. The persona in Fire notes the decaying properties of time, soon there will be Every morning Cyril Wong is undoubtedly one of my favourite local poets. 8, No. His most recent collection is Infinity Diary (2020), published with Seagull Books. Cyril Wong is the author of poetry collections such as Unmarked Treasure (2012), Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light (2012), The Dictator’s Eyebrow (2013), After You (2013), and The Lover's Inventory (2015). Rather than maintaining the status quo of apathy towards the LGBT community that we see today, NLB’s book-censoring decision sparked off indignance and created awareness.