Heng Siok Tian (b. 1963)

1. BIOGRAPHY

2. CRITICAL INTRODUCTION

3. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

4. SELECTED POEMS

• My City, My Canvas

• Mother's Gold

• Grandma’s Attic, Mom’s HDB

• Teochew Phrases: Down Under at Prahan Market (Established 1890), Melbourne, Australia, 2016

• Teochew Phrases: Your Teochew Proverbs

• Simple Days (Remembering Mother in Portugal, June 2015), Day 12 

5. SELECTED VIDEOS

6. TRACK CHANGES: “SONNET TO AN ARRIVAL: CHANGI JEWEL 2019”

SELECTED POEMS

Simple Days (Remembering Mother in Portugal, June 2015), Day 12 

The sun orders flames in skies
Did you feel the heat of death?
Mother, you visited me last night, my last in Lisbon.
Back to me, head slightly bent, your silhouette calmed me.
You kept me in the cities I visited, the way I kept your photo in my purse.

We saw Ponte 25 Abril, the closest to the Golden Gate Bridge
I said (childlikely before) that I would bring you to. I did not. (You forgave me.)

Each street I turned, you looked out from balcony,
cooking fish in each azulejo dish,
humming a fado tune.
I want to be cleansed as heir to your music.
I yearn to weave as sardines in your oceans.

by Heng Siok Tian
from Grandma's Attic, Mom's HDB, My Wallpaper (2021)

SELECTED VIDEOS >