Second Letter to Mama

Second Letter to Mama

Second Letter to Mama (c) Tan Keng Chiew

Dear Mama, you are standing by the stove
and I am standing on the chair by the stove
as the rice rises warmly in the clay pot
the soy sauce stains it a chestnut brown
shiny as enamel with oil.

And the rain outside and the trees outside
are papaya trees, and their tiny flowers,
male, female, let out a scent
honey in water, with the swift
hard breaths of rainwater darts.

The puddles on the ground are Earl Grey tea,
Mama’s tea, taken with condensed milk
in a pot in the fridge, unstuck with the
pluck of the magnet. My hair is short,
glossy like the rice and the rain.

This poem has been translated into Chinese, inspired a painting by my mother (above) and a music composition for voice and violin by Koh Chengjin (debuting at the Loke Cheng Kim Foundation Scholarship dinner 2018)

给妈妈的第二封信

妈妈：你站在火炉边
我站在火炉边的椅子上
米饭在温热的煲锅里泛起
酱油把它染成栗棕色
油油的，闪亮如珐琅

外面下着雨，窗外的
木瓜树开着细小的花，
雄的，雌的，发出微香
如水中蜜糖，雨箭那
迅疾而硬朗的气息

地上滴着伯爵灰茶水珠，
就像妈妈的茶：拔开
磁体吸上的门，从冰箱里取出奶罐
倒进炼乳。我的短发
光滑如米饭，如雨滴。

(self-translated, edited by Chen Bo)

Second Letter to Mama score by Cheng Jin Koh