Roadkill for Beginners

by Stephanie Chan

Roadkill for Beginners is Stephanie Chan's first collection of poetry. It's part scrapbook of love letters to places, part field guide to the people in them. It's a messy celebration of open mics, bonfires, and poetry stages around the world, the connections that grow up around them and the adventures that happen after. It explores desire, moving, belonging, and everything in between. It's got apocalyptic hawker centres, magical night bus rides, and hungry turkey vultures. It's about growing up, and not. For you, it hopes to feel like the lyrical equivalent of spooning in strange buildings then flying at full speed down a steep empty road on a bike at two in the morning.

Genres: Poetry

100 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

Stephanie Chan, also known as Stephanie Dogfoot, is a writer, performer and
educator from Singapore. She is the author of a poetry collection called Roadkill for Beginners, published by Math Paper Press (2019).

In 2010 she won Singapore’s 2nd National Poetry Slam Championships and represented Singapore in the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam Championships later that year.

In 2012 she won the UK Farrago Slam and went on to represent the UK at the European Slam in Championships and the Poetry World Cup.

She has performed her work on various stages in 11 different countries, including the Glastonbury Festival, the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and the Shambala Festival, as well as tours of Australia and Germany.

She is an editor and moderator of SingPoWriMo (Singapore Poetry Writing Month) 2017 and 2018 anthologies. Passionate about organizing and helping to build spoken word scenes. she has
been hosting and running poetry nights in London and Singapore since 2012. In 2017, she founded Spoke & Bird, a monthly poetry night in Singapore which features local and international artists. Herwork
can be found in various local and international anthologies.

Reviews

[Kirat Kaur · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me 2 years to finish this, partly because anyone who’s ever been to my house will attest that I only ever read poetry on the toilet, partly because I loved the first piece so much that I kept wanting to start by re-reading it, and partly because sometimes I just wanna meditate while I poop. Amazingly some of these entries came to me at exactly the right time. For instance, I read New Words for ‘Never’ the day after my 8-year-old niece told me she was in an Act 3 workshop for a musical production of Peter Pan. This version has decidedly more adult themes. I’ve known Steph Dogfoot first as a spoken word performer, and I had her rhythmic voice playing each stanza in my head every time I read each poem. I can’t imagine what the reading experience is like for anyone who hasn’t had the privilege of watching her perform. The poems are organised around her life trajectory - from musings about her childhood experiences, to her time in the US and London as a student, to her return to Singapore. There are so many good pieces across each section - she has a knack for wacky details and off-centre insights. I did like the last section best, and I think my favourite is Back Again, which so perfectly elucidates the joy of return while knowing there’s no way in hell it’s gonna last. Or maybe it’s Food: A Manifesto, which made me want to run into the sweaty, steamy hawker centre stalls under my block with arms flailing crying “take all my money!” I really appreciated the end notes - I’m a disbeliever in obscurity in poetry and the context provided in those notes are useful for anyone unfamiliar with Singapore or just dense like me.

[Shiloh Aiyoh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roadkill For Beginners traces the journey of Singaporean poet Stephanie Chan from shy, queer adolescent to a globe-trotting thirty-something hippie with a zest for life. It does so in a conversational, even confessional style – earnest and frank in the poet's desire to be seen, loved, accepted. One feels the naked weight of a lifetime spent searching for homes in places (and people in those places). In poems like "Maybe All We Wanted Was Somebody To Care", "We Found A Sign In A Dumpster..." and "Scissors Paper Stone" the need for validation is relatable and palpable. In other poems like "To Allow Room For Mine To Grow" and "Senior Year" – the quest for wisdom. In poems like "You Are Six Years Old..." – absolution.

Because of this persistent wanting throughout the collection, my favourite poem (and perhaps its most tender) is "Treehouse". Written explicitly at the end of a relationship, and yet not at all about its dissolution, this poem hits at a point in the book where the poet is at peak maturity – able to love another, not because of what may be obtained (like validation or knowledge), but simply a cherishing of what is.

Ultimately this collection is not a manual as the title would suggest but a record of lessons learnt. And it is given with a sincerity and plainness that is rare for Singaporean poetry.

[rui ♡³]

pre-reading

stephanie dogfoot is an amazing spoken word performer.

[ash | songsforafuturepoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

TBA