Call And Response: A Migrant/Local Poetry Anthology

by Joshua Ip (Editor), Rolinda Onates Espanola (Editor), Zakir Hossain Khokan (Editor)

Singapore is a migrant nation.

Who truly deserves the title 'local', and how far removed is your average 'local poet' from the term 'migrant worker'?

The anthology Call and Response gathers the voices of more than thirty 'migrant' poets, and pairs them with a creative response from the same number of ;local' writers in this initiative. Metaphors and memories are reflected and refracted through each poet's unique prism of language, but the light catches the page, whether harsh or warm, to illuminate. The editors Rolinda Onates Espanola, Zakir Hossain and Joshua Ip call you into the reader's space – we hope you respond.

Genres: Poetry

110 pages, Paperback

Reviews

[Desca Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

The review is taken from my Bookstagram IG @descanto

I had a stop at the Changi Airport,Singapore and I could not help myself but to think about you, Eli @eli_noer and Nur @nurjanah_annisachowdhury . The airport is so huge, helping the country economy to keep going, feeding so many people. Yet I also believe that a lot of people in that country esp those who work in the airport will also depend on you to manage their household and look after their family when they are out for a work.

You have travelled a long swim just to serve one's family, leaving your family at home. You left your own children in order to look after somebody else children. You waved goodbye to your family in other to take a good care of one's family. You have sacrificed a lot for the sake of others. You are one hell of a woman. A super woman and a woman made of steel.

I just wish that those people also realise how important you are in their everyday-life. They depend on you as much as you depend on them. I wish they appreciate you, as much as you appreciate them. I wish they will treat you nicely, and kind, and are able to hear your lamentations as well as provide you with what you need. I wish they welcome you and make you their family as you left your family in the kampoong.

Meeting you, hearing your stories and reading your writings are my great honour. A life changing. I really thank God for putting us together. You teach me the value of humanity and to appreciate every single thing that we have in this life.

Thank you. I send you a prayer and a massive hug to comfort you from a far. To you too, @mbakuchie86

Much love
Des

Thank you, Makassar Intl Writers Festival @makassarwriters , Lily Farid @lilyyulianti , Diah Pitaloka @deerekso and Frenia Nababan @thefr3y to give us the chance to hear our migrant friends' voices.

[Melvin Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Call and Response. I have always wondered why the title is so ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. Now I know. This collection is where migrant workers reach out with words, paired with responses from local poets. ‘Migrant’ poets share searingly honest works, yet staying away from histrionics. While their poems are evocative, it’s clear they don’t want to draw cheap sympathy. In return, ‘local’ poets don’t just indulge with superficial musings. Yeow Kai Chai’s ‘Latent Voids’ is a great example. This is an anagrammatic ode, painstakingly using all letters of the poem written by the migrant worker.

As Cyril Wong puts it, ‘these words are little comfort’. Yet they spark off a meaningful conversation between ‘migrant‘ and ‘local’ poets. Beyond a creative exchange, this collection raises a clarion call about the social disparity within a shared humanity. For a nation so dependent on migrant workers, this is essential for forging ahead especially after a pandemic.

[Catherine Pate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really beautiful collection of poems that plays with the boundaries between “us” and “them.” Set up as a call and response by migrants and locals in Singapore, it gives divinity to marginalized voices and challenges our ideas of separateness or even easy comparisons. Enjoyable and important.

[Greg Bem · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic anthology with a fantastic concept and familiar, beautiful poems from diverse poets. Highly recommend this book--it gives a sturdy container to host voices typically left in the margins, and amplifies them by pairing them with the established, "local" writers in Singapore. Plenty of room for conversation here!

[Sam Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insight into the thoughts and feelings of the migrant workers who keep Singapore going. Does what poetry should do, and open a window onto the souls of those normally without much of a public voice.

[Rebecca]

i love the idea of this -- a migrant worker writes a poem, a call, and a singaporean poet writes a response. the most memorable one is definitely pooja nansi's response to rea maac's 'scarecrow'.