Song of a Reformed Headhunter

 Compulsively readable. Some of the links are highly speculative, but the dots are connected in a pleasing pattern.

There are lyrical poems in James Fenton's Out of Danger, and then there are poems that are very nearly song lyrics. Both give pleasure, though arguably pleasure of different kinds. The book has keen observation, social conscience, and musical intelligence in abundance. Are the rhymes worn-out in places, like tires losing their treads? Maybe, but the Philippines and other South Pacific islands provide new rhymes and treads. Pádraig Ó Tuama is a genial, acute, and personable guide to these 50 poems about a range of outward-looking subjects. It is a good snapshot of contemporary Anglo-American verse, with a few oldies thrown in. I did not think that all the poems were as good as Ó Tuama said, but it would be a big surprise if I did. 

 Elaine Castillo's book of essays How to Read Now features a lit bomb on its cover. By its devastating critique of Nobel prize-winner Peter Handke's fascist sympathies and beloved Californian writer Joan Didion's settler-colonialist views, the book is necessarily blowing up Castillo's relations with certain influential parts of the literary establishment. If you have enough of coddling book reviews that read more like publishing blurbs than literary criticism, you will keenly appreciate Castillo's take-no-prisoners, and razor-sharp, approach to reading these and other white authors. The courage and honesty is undeniable.  More than attacks on individual authors, however, How to Read Now wants to destroy the harmful ways in which readers are expected by authors and publishers to center white experience: to treat it uncritically as "universal," "existential," and free of political taint, whereas the work of BIPOC writers is treated as mere ethnog...

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here .  THE PROGRESSIVE HOPE On Tuesday, 33-year-old Zohran Kwame Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for the New York City mayoralty,  and he is now the firm favorite to win the election in November. Against billionaire donors and the Democratic establishment who supported the corrupt and scandal-ridden ex-NY governor Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani ran an inspiring, grassroots campaign, firmly focused on making NYC affordable for all, which won the votes not only of the young college-educated, but also of working-class neighborhoods such as Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Sunset Park, and Brighton Beach – all areas that swung rightward in the 2024 presidential election,  according to the Guardian .  The size of his victory in November will determine how far he can overcome the city's powerful vested interests and enact his election promises of free childcare, free buses, rent stabilizatio...

  The novel stakes everything on our interest in the narrator (his lover Erica is a thin, almost cardboard, character). Changez's story—from love to hate for America—is credible, but herein lies the problem. It does not offer any surprising or complex insight into the predicament or psychology of such a character. The same premise treated by Dostoevsky of "Notes from Underground" or even Murakami of "Norwegian Wood" would have resulted in an indelible portrait of mature dissent or youthful wistfulness.

  To the Tune of “Shout” by Tears for Fears   “In the days leading up to the May 3 elections—and Singapore offers one of the shortest windows for campaigning, only nine days—political rallies organized by opposition parties were packed, and enthusiasm for their candidates seemed real.”—Salil Tripathi, in  “Why Singapore’s Ruling Party Won Yet Again,”  Foreign Policy , May 5 th , 2025 What plane will you fly in and out of Singapore? I’ll write a poem, not about,  of  Singapore.   Respect the voters’ choice, say the politicians. When the choice weighs the crimes and clout of Singapore.   Pissed off, that’s how I feel, go and tell your masters. God! I’m sick and tired, no doubt, of Singapore.   Outdoing one another on the screen, the pundits wow but so does the sexist lout of Singapore.   I wanna scream and shout. And let it all out. I wanna scream the scream, shout the shout, of Singapore.   The public square is out-of-bounds for PDA....