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To go or not to go, that was the question.
It's just that hanging out with strangers reading poetry wasn't exactly how one envisions spending Valentine's Day. In the end, I went. And the scene at Arts House's Earshot Café was enough to warm the cockles of William Shakespeare's now-retired heart.
While the rest of Singapore's lovebirds traded Hallmark cards and sweet nothings last Thursday, a handful of romantics were trading verses at poet Chris Mooney-Singh's regular Writers Connect workshop.
Meanwhile, poets Cyril Wong and Alvin Pang shared their works at the National Library for the poetry event subTEXT. They have been doing this every month, rain or shine, for almost seven years.
Well, they did. Thursday's was the last.
AUDIENCE, WHERE ART THOU?
Last year seemed like a good year for poets, with many of them spreading their wings all over the world. A handful, including Edwin Thumboo and Isa Kamari, took part in the Singapore Season in China festivities.
Others found themselves at poetry festivals and literary gatherings in Indonesia, India, Sweden and Australia. Wong was even featured in Time magazine as "that passionate poet from straitlaced Singapore" in time for the launch of his latest, Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light.
But even as international exposure for Singaporean poets rises, local audiences are slow to catch up.
While last year's Singapore Writers Festival chalked up over 21,000 visitors, a mere 1,000 people showed up for the 20 poetry events. For the eight poetry events leading up to the festival, only 400 dropped by.
Is spreading the good word a tough job? That depends.
Mooney-Singh said that his company, Word Forward, has reached out to some 50,000 people since 2003 through their monthly slam events at Velvet Underground, workshops and classes in schools.
But when it comes to smaller, more intimate events — if there's any to go to — you'll probably see the same faces of students, academics, friends, and other fellow budding writers.
A shrinking pool of available readers and minimal loyal audience members have pushed subTEXT founder and poet Yong Shu-Hoong, 41, to change the format into something more flexible. He now plans to hold future readings by "piggybacking" on other festivals or during lull months in the local literary calendar.
No Rewards
With a niche audience and no long-term financial reward (even if one hits the one-off jackpot with a Young Artist Award or Cultural Medallion), why do they do it?
"There may be easier ways to earn a living," said 50-something Mooney-Singh, one of the few poets who actually makes a living dealing with poetry.
The published poets Today spoke to said they do it because, simply put, they love playing with words.
"Poems have the capacity to say everything in as few words as possible. There are no limitations in poetry," said Wong, 30.
"Poetry for me is where language is most free," said Alfian Sa'at (notice the rhyme?). Sa'at, 30, is also a resident playwright for theatre company W!ld Rice.
That said, these two young (and outspoken) literary stalwarts claimed it's one thing to love writing poems — it's another to get them published.
Wong's first book squatting quietly did not get a grant from the National Arts Council "because of certain poems".
Sa'at's breakthrough debut One Fierce Hour (which included that infamous Singapore You Are Not My Country poem) received funding, but his grant application for the sophomore collection A History of Amnesia was rejected.
BOOKWORMS RULE
Books may well be the silver lining in today's poetry scene.
Even Mooney-Singh, who is associated with the more public face of slam poetry, recommends that after winning the public's interest, publishing works is the next step.
Last year, Word Forward launched four collections by its own poets, including his own The Laughing Buddha Cab Company.
Despite acknowledging that there is only a small market for poetry books, veteran publishers like Ethos and First Fruits continue to slog on.
"There is readership, but it's really very niche," said Fong Hoe Fang, 53, the publisher of Ethos Books, which has released 18 poetry titles.
Publishing a book with a 500 copy run can cost from $8,000 to $20,000, he said.
Meanwhile, First Fruits managing editor Enoch Ng, has been publishing for 11 years, putting out an average of three poetry books a year.
"The size of the market is as big as our reading appetite can encompass," said an optimistic Ng, 41.
It may not look like it at public events, but maybe there is an audience for poetry — it's just that they're sitting at home, digesting the poems in private.
First Fruits have re-printed books by Yong, Wong, Cheong and Aaron Maniam. They're now working on the re-print of young poet/ playwright Ng Yi-Sheng's Last Boy.
Ethos' best-selling poetry anthology, No Other City, edited by Alvin Pang and Aaron Lee have also sold more than a thousand copies.
In the end, however, poetry is hardly pulp fiction.
"Poets all over the world will always have a small audience, but it is also a quality audience," said Wong.
And what better audience for local poetry than those who huddle over poems on Valentine's Day and like it was their one, true love? - TODAY/ar
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