Emergency IT Lesson 3: Analysing & Composing Poem

Another poem provided by Mr. S!

The Son is in Secondary School
by Affran Sa’at

My badge has a Latin motto Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something
At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays
I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts
The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another
Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
On Chinese New Year Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo
The capital of Singapore is Singapore
My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper
In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed



Q1.What are the poet’s thoughts? What were his feelings as he think back on these?

The poet's thoughts as he writes this poem may be that he is wishing for his primary school days to return, with great longing for those days and all the fun times he/she has experienced inhis school life judging by the fact that many insights of interesting moments were goven to the readers and it is written in a very lighthearted and humorous tone. Furthermore, the poem ends with another interesting fact, the camera capturing him on a wheelchair with his eyes closed.

The most probable reason that he wished for his primary school days so much was that, although he was in a wheelchair, and was physically handicapped, he was able to enjoy his life in primary school. I guess after his primary school days he did not have the same joyful days as a handicapped person maybe due to social or more physical problems.

Q2.Think back on our days in Primary School. Do you share the same sentiments? What were your memories of those days? Write a poem of no less than 4 stanzas.

Of course, in fact, almost everyone would. Who wouldn't miss their primary school days with friends who have shared their worries, happiness, sorrows, joy with you for 6 years! Class bonding was more prominent iin my primary school days and of course, less stress although PSLE is an exception. Now I dedicate the poem below to my days in primary school.

Grateful Days


Giant metal bird lands
And me and my parents
Are off to find a new school
Foreign land,
Foreign home,
Foreign school.

When everything seemed
So foreign
So different,
Friends in school
Are my guiding light,
My guide to Singpore,
although they chided me
For not bringing
Colour pencils,
And instead crayons.

I met two friends,
Of the same origin as me,
And we played,
We ate,
We studied, together.
Good times did not last though.

As one by one,
We parted.
At Primary 2,
There were two of us.
At Primary 3,
There was one of "us".
I was alone.
Or was I?

At primary 3,
At the beginning of the year,
I took a test,
And promoted,
As clasmates were too young.
Finally at my right age,
at Primary 4,
I did realise that,
Friends were everywhere,
Friends were not just,
People of my origin,
They were also,
People of my foreign land.

As time passed,
I opened up to them,
And they opened up to me,
And we became bonded,
As one,
As a class.
I wasn't alone anymore.

By Seong Jin
In memory of his primary school days