"Woman charged $608 for lobster la mian"

SingPoWriMo 2023 Day 3.

The prompt is to write a poem in Singlish. I will try. I speak it everyday.

photo by Pexels at pixabay



"Woman charged $608 for lobster la mian"


I never said that hor, it was in the news. Or some social media feed. Then if you look at the picture, the dish does look like a plate of vomit. The eater said one hor. Also cannot see the lobster. For that price? No wonder the woman kao pei kao bu. But never ask the price in the first place meh? Or look at the menu? Die die must eat here meh? I think some people are blur like sotong, or so rich till dun care. I wish I am rich liddat hor. Then can eat lobster noodle also. But liddat in the picture, I also complain one even if I got money to burn. Talking about money, that 600+ can fly budget to Oz and eat the lobster there. Lagi more fresh. Maybe can also throw in scallops, prawns and if you want, hum. (hum very expensive now, the char kway teow uncle told me). Okay lah, the kopitiam downstairs just renovated and open, let me see what I can get there. La mian?


06/04/2023
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Notes :

blur like sotong : used to describe a clueless person. Sotong is Malay for squid, which squirts ink to escape from predators. The ink makes it hard to see.
char kway teow : a stir-fried dish of rice noodles.
die die must try : something so great the person must try, no matter what.
hum : blood cockles.
kao peh kao bu : complain. Usually a big complaint. From Hokkien literally meaning 'cry father cry mother'
lagi : Malay word for more, greater or further.
la mian - "pulled" noodles, i.e. hand-made noodles.
liddat : like that
uncle : a male who is middle-aged or older, not necessarilly a relative and especially not well acquainted. The female form is auntie.
hor, lah, meh :(also mah, leh, siah as other examples) these are discourse particles occurring at the end of a sentence. It does not change its grammatical meaning, but how it is spoken changes the meaning or tone of the sentence, for example indicating annoyance, disbelief, amazement , etc.

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CNA Insider - How Singlish Went From 'Cannot Make It' To National Hero | Singlish: Why We Talk Like That? - Part 1

(It's a bit longish, but interesting.)

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2023

in between, the news

A forum friend once calls his out-of-the-blue, spur-of-the-moment short poetry "instant poems". One day, on opening a cup of instant noodles and reading the papers while waiting for it to cook, the idea of an "instant poem" came to mind, and the below poem is the result.

colour pencil and ink sketch by dsnake1


in between, the news


Open packet, pour in hot water, wait 3 minutes.

In the meantime, there was the usual bleak news from Iraq, female hostage pleads for her life, Feb 1 2006, damn, dropped cigarette ash on floor, splattered like a dead moth, cowboy gay love story won 8 Oscar nominations. Dad beats up mum what can a child do? Homeless man living under flyover bridge for past six months.

Ah, excuse me, my noodle's ready.


01/02/2006
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Magaly at Poets and Storytellers United invites us to write poetry or prose that includes a list of things we love, of things we hate, ...of anything we wish. I am writing this list poem of newspaper headlines. They are actual headlines in a newspaper on a particular day.

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“I spent my time drinking and staring at a television in the airport bar. More death and destruction. Crime. Pollution. All the news stories were telling me to be frightened. All the commercials were telling me to buy things I didn´t need. The message was that people could only be passive victims or consumers.”

― John Twelve Hawks, The Traveler

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2022

photo#1975

“Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door."

― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

photo by The British Museum at Unsplash



photo#1975


what fishes?
there are no fishes

the big boys with the nets
have trawled them

and what remains
are miserly opportunities

that are slipping by
slippery beyond grasp

me, i get by
with small fry.


undated. prob. 80's
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Found this old piece in an old (read angry) journal, sighed, and let it loose on the internet.

Rosemary at Poets and Storytellers United tells us "to bear witness to these times we are living in, and how it feels to be living in them." I am posting one that is not about these present times but about a certain year, and a rather pivotal one.

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The Vietnam War ends with the fall of Saigon. One of the lasting images of the war is that of a helicopter lifting off from the roof of the American Embassy, evacuating. Over in nearby Cambodia, the Communist Khmer Rouge had captured Phnom Penh earlier and begins a genocide of anyone who looks smart. In the space of slightly more than two weeks, US President Gerald Ford survives two assassination attempts by two women wielding handguns, both times in California. Perhaps the girls have been in the sun for too long. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft and Jaws opens in cinemas, frightening us off the summer beaches. Back home, amendments to the law are made to introduce the mandatory death penalty for some drug trafficking cases, and the Area Licensing Scheme is launched in a bid to control traffic into the city core, the world's first such scheme. And I complete my conscription service in the army. All these in 1975.

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2022

Dear 2021

It was the train pulling out of the station, and no one was waving...

- dsnake1, a few days to the new year

digital montage by dsnake1



Dear 2021


Dear 2021

I know, it is the beginning of the year, but you sure know how to grab our attention. The world, and especially America, looks on with disbelief, as its own people storms the Capitol, trying to overturn an election result.

Then, as another joke, a large container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez canal, disrupting global trade. We can never forget the image of a little digger trying to free the behemoth from the banks.

The Summer Olympics finally gets going, one year later, and as a cyclist, I watch all the cycling events and was touched by the enthusiastic Japanese people along the route cheering the competitors on. Also, American gymnast Simone Biles taught us it's alright if we don't feel right.

The USA exits Afghanistan after 20 years of war, and people are pointing the fingers to the memory of Vietnam. For a kid who lost a dad early in the war, the kid is probably all grown up now, and wondering if the servicemen, and the trillions of dollars, can be put to better use.

You let billionaires go to space for joyrides and and turn a blind eye to disinformation, as it continues to fool people on social media, where governments are also waging a relentless propaganda war.

It seems like nothing happened, COVID-19 continues to hog the news, and yet we continue to be touched, angered, perplexed and entertained by the year's events.

You will not walk out with a hobble. You will walk, maybe hunched, but walk. And let us all hold our hands, forget our differences of opinions, and wish for a normal return to life from the pandemic. And a true yearning for a return to peace.


Sincerely

Lee San


18/12/2021
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Magaly at Friday Writings told us to write a “Dear 2021” open letter, in verse or in prose. So this is it. It is a very hurried write. Wish I have some time to polish it. :)

291 words

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U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021