Stephanie Chan (b. 1987)
SELECTED POEMS
When the World Ends You Will be Eating Hokkien Mee
When the last Panda dies in a zoo that he was sent to as a cub as a last-ditch-attempt-at-peace-type goodwill gift from China, you will be counting how many pieces of sotong the stallholder gave you.
When the oceans start overflowing and start swallowing up small coastal cities, the death toll
will not even reach the 6PM news on the hawker centre TV screens.When all the fish have gone extinct, and all the chickens died of some flesh-eating version of bird flu that also managed to wipe out three developing countries in two months, it will be ok
because there will still be enough prawns left in the sea.
And you don’t need chicken to make Hokkien Mee anyway.When the tidal waves start flooding large coastal cities like Sydney, LA, and Vancouver
there will still not be enough lard in your Hokkien Mee.When the earth starts to crack open and swallow up Jakarta and Tokyo, you might be intrigued
by the noodles on your plate trembling ever-so-slightly the tremors.When buildings in Malaysia start to collapse from the tremors, tell yourself
that they were all poorly built anyway.When a malaria epidemic hits Southeast Asia,
remember to swallow your government-sponsored vaccine after your meal
and thank God you live in a functional country.When the threat of nuclear war is imminent
but probably won’t make much of a difference at this point in history,
keep believing that Hokkien Mee noodles grow out of the ground on a farm somewhere in Kranji.When the ocean starts to encroach a little bit on the reclaimed land in Changi, Jurong Island
and the CBD, just remember that you were never promised that Singapore would be ‘flood free’.When the first child dies in a flooded neighbourhood on the ECP,
be glad you live on the 20th storey.When the first families are lost to a tsunami in Pasir Ris, you will be eating Hokkien Mee.
When Resorts World disappears underwater, you will be eating Hokkien Mee.
And it will be damn good Hokkien mee.
So good, you will want another.
But you will never get another because the stall owner will be dead.
And his wife will be dead.
And his son, the only other person with the recipe in his head will can no longer remember it
ever since he left to open a gourmet dessert bar which only serves people who can say the words ‘post-apocalyptic’ with a straight face.So go on, enjoy that plate of Hokkien Mee.
It will be the last plate of Hokkien Mee you will ever taste,
that will ever be tasted in the world, and be glad, be bloody glad
that you are, because when that tidal wave rears up to engulf this island
and there is screaming everywhere and gnashing of teeth
and you finally look up and see that wall of water about to swallow up
Old Air Port road hawker centre
the taste of prawn stock, lard and MSG will be the only things left to hold on to.
