by Shameera Nair Lin

Poetry is everywhere: a lyric you love; a line someone muttered to you casually last night at dinner; childhood memories; a sudden encounter. Today, we celebrate the beauty of poetry with a few recommendations. We will be incorporating a few Malaysian-specific recommendations: keep an eye out for those!

1. I’m Going Back to Minnesota Where Sadness Makes Sense by Danez Smith

In popular culture, the sun is meant to symbolise joy, with coldness indicating isolation and sadness. Danez Smith, a poet from Minnesota, writes against the poetic trope of sunshine and happiness by finding comfort in the unexpected. Here, he is looking to return home – home is in the weather.

2. Malacca River by Kwan Ann Tan

A poem where landscape says everything that needs to be said, ‘Malacca River’ by Kwan Ann Tan is a visual feast that will, somehow, urge you to revisit and maybe even rethink Melaka and its city centre. To read the full poem, click here.

3. Having a Coke with You by Frank O’Hara

As far as love poems go, this is, as Al Green would say, simply beautiful. About sharing the simplest of moments with a loved one, ‘Having a Coke with You’ epitomises what it means to find and appreciate love in different places.

4. Malaysian Millennial Voices, ed. Malachi Edwin Vethamani

An anthology of poems by 37 Malaysian writers aged 35 and below, ‘Malaysian Millennial Voices’ seeks to platform a new generation of poetic voices from varying backgrounds. But with 69 poems from emerging writers, this is an anthology filled with addressing family, race, ecology and history in new, perhaps refreshing, ways.