Palinode VII

Palinode VII


Remember that construction
worker

run over
by the bus, setting off

a riot?
I see him

in every Indian here,
short or tall,

handsome
or devastated,

starving or sleek-headed
and satisfied.

I can’t help it.
Why can’t I

see Rajaratnam
our Deputy

Prime Minister or
the guitarist Alex

Abisheganaden instead?
I go up,

like getting on
a bus,

to every Indian here
and I ask,

are you
Sakthivel Kumaravelu?

And they say,
every one

of them, smiling,
or grimacing, or

furrowing
the brow,

Don’t you wish
for me to be him?


Reuters: Migrant workers fear massive Singapore dormitory lockdown is coronavirus timebomb.


Image: Centurion Corporation

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wallace Stevens' "The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words"

Goh Chok Tong's Visit to FCBC

Singapore Launch of Steep Tea and SWF