Song of a Reformed Headhunter

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . The situation of women in this country in the news is horrific. Women are subjected regularly to physical terror, not just on the streets but also in their own homes. 1 in 3 women have experienced some form of physical violence by their intimate partner, and 1 in 7 of women have been injured by that abuse. 1 in 2 female murder victims are killed by their intimate partners, often with a gun. The threat of sexual assault is real and constant. In the course of their lives, 1 in 5 women have been raped. From 2016 through 2018, the number of rape/sexual assault victims increased 146%. Women are prevented from full and equal participation in the economy. Victims of intimate partner violence lose a total of 8,000,000 days of paid work each year, the equivalent of 32,000 full-time jobs. Between 21-60% of victims of intimate partner violence lose their jobs due to reasons stemming from the abuse. When ...

 Read three novels during our one-week vacation in Maine. A very believable romance lies at the heart of Martha Cooley's new novel Buy Me Love , but in the depths lurks the tangled bond between brothers and sisters, and into the air rises an aria of love to Brooklyn. As for Alan Lightman's Reunion , the minor style cannot save a slight plot and slighter characters. Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a literary masterpiece. The floating point of view is a tremendously flexible and exciting device. The imagination at full stretch, whether revising the crucifixion narrative, inventing the Devil's ball, or describing the feeling of flying just above Moscow. Simultaneously profound philosophical and ethical questions are posed, such as cowardice and compromise while living under a totalitarian regime.

    Singapore Unbound received a total of 9 entries for our 1st Awards for the Best Undergrad Critical Essays on Singapore and Other Literatures. All 9 essays focused on Singaporean texts; none took a comparative lit perspective. The Singaporean texts are diverse in periods, genres, and author backgrounds. The essays will now be read by Professor Koh Tai Ann, who will decide on three awards, each worth USD250. The awards will be announced in September 2021. The essay titles, listed below in no particular order, are so exciting in themselves: -Stateless Citizens: Apathy as Defence Mechanism in Amanda Lee Koe's MINISTRY OF MORAL PANIC -The Modern Malay Woman’s Reclaimed (Home)land: Syncretisation as a Strategy of Resistance in Singapore Theatre (Zizi Azah, Alfian Sa'at, Nabilah Said, Haresh Sharma) -Readerly Desire in PONTI: Beyond Eros, Eurocentrism, and Closure (Sharlene Teo) -“This is Home, Truly?”: A Cross-Generational Comparative Study of the Changing Attitudes ...

Three sonnets from "Ungovernable Bodies" have just gone live on the beautifully curated website The Abandoned Playground . The first two sonnets are written "after Yeow Kai Chai," whose work is always a challenge and an inspiration. Thanks, Daniele Pantano, for publishing them. It's a real honor to be included in your marvelous selection of writings and art. Everyone should check out the website.

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . A 16-year-old student has been charged for the murder of a 13-year-old in their school in Singapore. The tragedy has shocked the country, which has very low rates of violent crimes. A chronological account of the incident was given by the Education Minister in Parliament. The 16-year-old was assessed at the Institute for Mental Health in 2019 after he attempted to commit suicide at the age of 14. This new revelation has prompted even more calls for a review of counseling services in Singapore schools. Especially perceptive and eloquent was the call for greater mental health resources and support for schools issued by President Halimah Yacob . In Singapore, those found guilty of murder may receive the death penalty. A minor below the age of 18 will not get the death sentence, but may be imprisoned for life instead. It is no surprise that at least one social-media comment has called for the 16-year-o...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Last Sunday, I attended a Meeting Point organized under the aegis of Mekong Cultural Hub , a global organization that aims to empower diverse cultural practitioners to bring their visions for an inclusive, sustainable Mekong Region to life. The Meeting Point was organized by Singaporean Grace Hong in her home in Astoria, Queens, and in that relaxed setting it introduced to one another a group of 7 people—an art critic, two administrators, two film editors, a poet (me), and a friend. Grace herself writes on art and manages public communications for a gallery in the city. Between all of us, we had ties to Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Singapore, and the US. I had visited Cambodia and Vietnam as a tourist not so long ago, but knew little about the contemporary arts around the Mekong, so the 4 short films shown to us were revelatory. In their different ways and locations, the artists in the films depl...

I'm very happy to share with you that an excerpt from my hybrid work of fiction Snow at 5 PM: Translations of an Insignificant Japanese Poet is featured at Poetry Daily today! I hope you will enjoy reading it. Poet and literary critic Vivek Narayanan comments very kindly: "Koh’s work in some moments can seem disarmingly simple, even if always rigorous in its language, lighting on the ordinary, but as you delve further it reveals a rich intelligence, omnivorous and cosmopolitan in its influences, balancing its interests in high and low, the cerebral and the bodily, the experimental and the straight, narrative and ellipsis." ( read the rest of his commentary ) If you'd like to get hold of the book, please consider getting it from Bookshop , as the online store shares its profits with independent bookstores. Or ask your local bookstore for it. Friends in Singapore, I hope to be back and see you next summer.