(A Valentine Special) Seize the day!

Mumblings and chattering seemed distant
Followed by a series of laughter and smacking sounds on each other shoulders
But some chose not to show
Being alone is what's best

The red sea waves came and go
Frowning or smiling seemed common
The long queues seemed endless
Patience, my friend

The warm weather seemed to choke
Where beads of perspiration trickled down their necks
Tiring faces
Hidden feelings of dread was evident in their speech

Munching
Gobbling
Humongous appetites
Bad habits undisclosed

As the constant ringing was heard
Buzzing off as quick as lightning
Disappearing like a whoosh
Emptiness could be felt instantly

-Azyan Shakespeare

Students running,
Students screaming.
Students talking,
Students eating.

What's the difference?
Between break time and lessons.
Hmm, I wonder.

Laughter during break time,
Silence during lessons.
What makes them shy to speak up?

Canteen and classrooms.
What's the difference?
Aren't they a room with 4 walls too?

--

Sorry if it's a little weird.
It's my first time (?) writing a poem :X

The bell rang
and the next moment,
the canteen was flooded
with a sea of red.

Students and teachers gathered
with their clique,
chatting and laughing away
without any language barriers.

It was a rare sight to come upon
students rushing the pen on their scripts.
For once a day we saw,
smiles on the usual strict teachers' faces.

As time passes by,
the red slowly recedes.
For it was time to go
back to classes for classes.

Valentine's Day special 14/2/2008

Voices receding like the ocean waves
The red sea calms and lazes
Leaving the clanking of metals
Soiled plastic for space battles

Soon as the tide dies
Its child will rise
The bloody scene like history repeats
The lines. The pangs. Impatience defeats.

Gaiety. No defence. Guard is down.
Seldom does one see a frown.
Colour matters not.
Language adulterated in a knot.

Postscript:
And so you see, my dear teen
'tis a typical day in our canteen.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Mrs Sharon Tan

Mysterious Poet No. 3!!!

Noisy classrooms; pandemonium,
Perspiring as they did their work,
Naggy teachers, oh-so-boring!
Frustration.

The countless “hours” doing homework,
Mind-boggling sums, the numerous essays to be written,
The sound of papers “crushed”, time and again.
Anger.

Every second, seems like minutes.
Every minute seems like hours.
The never-ending steps to class,
Laziness.

Everything’s being controlled, every small action counts,
The regular meetings with the teachers,
The occasional sight of the discipline master,
Freaks me out.

What am I to do,
Stuck in this stuffy, confined room,
Hearing to the never-ending lectures,
Like every other day.
Sick!

by ... ? =)

Monday's Class Exercise [2]

'Kampung" by Koh Buck Song

we knew
it wouldn't last,
this peace

that perhaps the chickens
took it best,
perpetually pecking
incurious
oblivious

not knowing how far
this community
of wood and attap
has sent tributaries
from stagnant pools
or drawn water
upriver

but it all moves
all around
whether we stay
or flow

an era,
mirage-like,
comes to pass
even as puddles dry
in noonday sun

Monday's Class Exercise

'East Coast' by Koh Buck Song

a lifetime seems to gape
from which we carved our names
on a coconut tree
now long-lost among the hundreds
shading this haven,
the jack-knife cut
a whisper to the wind,
youth's vandalism of hope

corrected by the
grammar of growing up
but, like a nursery rhyme,
love's basic vocabulary
repeats, still speaks
chapters of comfort,
folios of faith

seen from this shore
here is another snatch of stasis
on the hurtling continuum:
om one side
the shimmer of Shenton Way,
on the other
Changi Airport's shine
and in between
a seamless string
of ships' lamps,
like some Milky Way
of Neptune

imagery of love
is old as the sea
but each time
the metaphors recharge,
renew what they signify
in the abiding language
of the heart