Euginia Tan (b. 1991)
SELECTED POEMS
Calculated City
The bus stops in
Metronome beats.
People board like suitcases
Going through customs,
Screened via a metallic beep.Skyscrapers are placed.
They are not borne of sand,
Or sweat. Rather, they are displayed.
Accessed into like a drone hooker
Out to clone more clones,
In same coloured suits.Somehow Christmas happens
But I’m not sure if it’s because
It’s that time of the year, or
Because the calendar has been put
On auto correct, predictive mode.People are buying gifts
From the same stores
Telling you when to celebrate,
While their wall clock moves
Ten minutes late after closing time,
Lunch break.Frozen into my seat
From the same air conditioning
Depleting my metabolism
For free will;
I wonder where the hell I am.
Am I one stop away, or
Did I ask that
Ten minutes ago.
by Euginia Tan
from Phedra (2016)
