We are now proud to present the final issue, “We Are Mythic”, where we explore, through SPWM poems and our features, the myths we tell, that we love, that we hate, that we believe in despite our better judgement, or that we don’t, despite our desire to. Myths have long been used to explain phenomena mere human logic could not and have inspired traditions or entire bodies of cultural practices that have persisted to this day.
Read MoreMy father and I were at the longkang to catch the Merlion.
We tried to lure it with bread we smuggled from a hotel buffet. The Merlion swam over, but somehow it was dark blue in colour and the size of a large koi.
Weretigers love the cubicle jungle. The blinded light of skyscraper windows serves to hide the stripes of their ties, the bloodstained flesh tones of their lipstick. They lurk behind servers, filing cabinets, photocopiers; in lift lobbies and staff pantries. Their primary habitat is HR and upper management, but they have colonised every stratum of the corporate biota.
Read Morewhen you cry with fifty mouths
they push you back into the womb,
head by head. all i remember were
surgical gloves and the lack of foreceps.
they built roads of iron / trampled over temples / nights breathed oil / worse than dog piss / the land stopped singing / when they smogged its veins / in their city / birds do not chirp / they garble on wired trees / pecking at nuts & bolts / in their city / they do not believe in talismans / only the magic of coal & coin
Read MoreNo, the disappearance of Sr. Gloria Beneficio Aguerre was a complete coincidence.
No, the turnpike at the edge of Marine Parade was never fixed.
Read Moreyou tore my seabed
open like a fish
gutted in the ocean.
the hook
flung me into the
void above,
to whispers of ‘please,
we need you’.
you carry a basket and a safety charm
the harvest lies ripe and heavy
no wolves on the wind nor hanging trees
darling there is still light outside.
Ganesha says, BEGIN THE TUSK AT HAND.
Anansi says, NOW SPIN A WEB OF LIES.
Djehuty says, CAST MAGIC IN THE SAND.
Athena says, YOU’RE REALLY NOT THAT WISE.
Read MoreThey say I did it for my city. He was coming
to smash our gates, to shuck us clean, & I was,
after all, already dirty, the pearl popped from
my oyster, lost.
take
the bird fat, to polish his skull
the wood ash, to colour his mane
the monkey blood, to quench his thirst.
he has never been wrong and he loves us as we love him.
O, the ancients spoke wisely,
Somber and sincere!
The man of many lives
He who once walked…
In a shocking turn of events, the monkey man reveals himself to the media. He wishes to be a public good and admired for his mottled fur and sunken black eyes.
Read MoreIn a children’s hospital, at the end of a corridor, lies a locked room. All prospective medical students are brought to that room at the end of their final interview. Everyone knows about the existence of that room; no one speaks of what lies within.
Read More@Hellboy444
So I was on Grab app, and picked a destination within Singapore River, putting “take the highway to Hell” in remarks. A driver accepted the job! Strange name, Charon.
He arrived delirious, clinging to a black goat — hooting
about nymphs. Scylla, Circe, GDP. “Topless
towers”, brayed he. “Where is the lion of the sea?”
In the morning,
when the koel calls, I forage through trash cans
and pluck bananas, picking out strands
of sweetness.
Read MoreThe moon appears ex nihilo on a regular basis.
The moon was created via collision.
The moon made a big splash when she came out.
The moon’s body is made of mixed parts.
Strange things happen when you say
Watain thrice. The cow on Coney Island
dies. Madmen begin to rave at Oxford.
The bus breaks down on the crooked bridge.
Lamp posts whisper in your ears. Eight-wheeled
vehicles are lost at sea. But what do I fear?