The Space of City Trees

by Yap, Arthur

• ISBN13: 9781871438390
• ISBN10: 187143839X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-12-01
• Publisher: Skoob Books Pub Ltd

Summary

This collection brings together a range of poems from Arthur Yap's four volumes, only lines, commonplace, down the line, man snake apple as well as from his selection in the anthology Five Takes. The poems are imagistic statements of the natural and the peopled landscape which illuminate and comment on aspects of everyday life in Singapore. This minimalist poetry depicts the author, a leading Singaporean poet, as a fellow victim and wry observer in a spiritual quest extending throughout Asia.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xx
from Only Lines (1971)
only lines	3	(1)
location	4	(1)
sunny day	5	(1)
hurrying ahead	6	(1)
one road	7	(1)
panchor	8	(1)
garden episode	9	(1)
expansion	10	(1)
coming up, flowers	11	(1)
perpetual	12	(1)
old photographs	13	(1)
precedence	14	(1)
it rains today	15	(1)
old house at ang siang hill	16	(1)
in passing	17	(1)
readjustment	18	(1)
change of pace	19	(1)
sunday	20	(1)
a scroll painting	21	(1)
cameron highlands	22	(1)
balancing sounds	23	(1)
seasonal	24	(3)
from Five Takes (1974)
dramatis personae	27	(2)
statement	29	(1)
fire off kim seng bridge	30	(1)
the send-off	31	(1)
these sounds, endlessly	32	(1)
almost still-life	33	(1)
recurrent imagery	34	(1)
minimum excavation	35	(1)
banyan tree	36	(1)
june morning	37	(1)
open road	38	(1)
evening	39	(1)
tanah rata	40	(5)
from Commonplace (1977)
black & white	45	(1)
everything's coming up numbers	46	(1)
some friends	47	(1)
dog-eared	48	(1)
on reading a current best-seller	49	(1)
inventory	50	(1)
a circle	51	(1)
letter from a youth to his prospective employer	52	(1)
north hill road, leeds	53	(1)
new year '75, leeds	54	(1)
evening	55	(1)
accelerando	56	(1)
commonplace	57	(1)
& the tide	58	(1)
there is no future in nostalgia	59	(1)
an afternoon nap	60	(1)
the coffee house, cockpit hotel	61	(1)
similes	62	(1)
dawn	63	(1)
absolute	64	(1)
another look	65	(1)
dracula	66	(1)
things	67	(1)
configuration	68	(1)
group dynamics I	69	(1)
group dynamics II	70	(3)
from Down The Line (1980)
they are days	73	(1)
paper	74	(1)
shipwreck	75	(1)
medium	76	(1)
down the line	77	(3)
night scene I	80	(1)
night scene II	81	(1)
would it have been	82	(1)
a lesson on the definite article	83	(1)
the grammar of a dinner	84	(1)
event	85	(1)
roll call	86	(1)
samson & delilah	87	(1)
rsvp regrets only	88	(1)
in memory of) anthony	89	(1)
for...	90	(1)
until	91	(1)
words	92	(1)
postlude	93	(1)
mime	94	(1)
late-night bonus	95	(1)
traffic	96	(1)
most of october	97	(1)
sights	98	(1)
at balmain	99	(1)
i think (a book of changes)	100	(1)
2 mothers in a h d b playground	101	(2)
fiscal ear	103	(4)
from Man Snake Apple (1986)
tropical paradise	107	(1)
stained glass	108	(1)
still-life I	109	(1)
still-life IV	110	(1)
still-life V	111	(1)
still-life VI	112	(1)
man snake apple	113	(3)
your goodness	116	(1)
dialogue	117	(1)
in the quiet of the night	118	(1)
when last seen	119	(1)
dinosaurs	120	(1)
street scene I	121	(1)
street scene II	122	(1)
foursome	123	(2)
exchanges	125	(1)
alternation	125	(2)
eyes	127	(1)
nightjar	128	(1)
paraphrase	129	(1)
a good poem	130	(1)
the shisen-do	131	(1)
12-times table	132	(1)
at nagoya	133	(1)
i can't remember where	134	(1)
a peony display, ueno park	135	(1)
i am not sure	136	(1)
a list of things	137	(1)
paired stills	138	(2)
waterbabies	140	(2)
denpasar	142	(1)
cianjur	143	(2)
Notes	145