Koh Buck Song (b. 1963)

1. BIOGRAPHY

2. CRITICAL INTRODUCTION

3. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

4. SELECTED POEMS

• A Brief History of Toa Payoh

• Wayang Kulit

• Moose-Hunting, Canadian Rockies

• Close Quarters, Chinatown

• The Fragrance of Lallang

• Corridor, Bukit Merah

• Merlion: Strike One

• “shoring” Singapore

SELECTED POEMS

Corridor, Bukit Merah

these are the lanes
we must now tread
to reach one another

some rain still splatters, 
sometimes, but no mud,
no rocks, no snakes

just solid linear platforms
to build the old community
if given open access

no more attap anxiety
or borrowing sugar, with
a minimart downstairs

this is how we level
with each other, in this
kueh lapis kampong

by Koh Buck Song
from Heartlands: Home and Nation in the Art of Ong Kim Seng (2008)

SELECTED POEMS: “Merlion: Strike One” >