First Reads: parsetreeforestfire

What does it mean to speak? What does it mean to speak authentically? What does it mean to write in English but be located in Singapore? What does it mean to write in Singlish?

Hamid Roslan’s debut poetry collection—in which poems in Singlish occupy one side of the book, and poems in English on the other—attempts to answer these questions. Lauded as an “arresting collection”, this debut by Hamid baffles, moves and offends. Read the opening pair from the book below: