Ee Tiang Hong (b. 1933–1990)
SELECTED POEMS
Song of a Young Malayan
Not say I don’t appreciate poetry;
But you speak of poetry which have no rhyme,
Not like the ones I sometime quote
“What is our life so full of care
We got no time to stand and stare?”
But still I must admit
I don’t like poetry
Very much. I like music.Not jazz American stuff,
Classical music worse still too long and dull,
I like the music to be sentimental
Like at night while dim light in my room,
I turn on the radio.
O Ross Hamilton is my favourite
His words so full of meaning
“I'll go out in the night
Buy you a dream.”But I never like painting. In school
I hated Art like anything.
And Modern Art
I cannot understand. Like Picasso—
Why he always show
A man with funny shape
Head and body all mixed up?
I think
It is all nonsensical.
by Ee Tiang Hong
from I of the Many Faces (1960)
