The Power of a Poem
Zakir Hossain, a celebrated poet and migrant worker in Singapore, wrote a poem, which sparked a response from the state. Diana Rahim reflects on the power of words, wielded to question, and words wielded to control.
Singapore poetry
5 Singapore poems not to quote out of context
By Nabilah Said (2,500 words, 7-minute read) In 1968, Lee Kuan Yew uttered the words “Poetry is a luxury we cannot afford” to a roomful of University of Singapore students. There have been some quibbling over, even mythologising of, what he may have meant. To Prof Koh Tai Ann, then the young student whom he …