Equatorial Sunshine

by Wong Su Ann, Jemimah Wei (Contributor)

What can Singapore's weather offer? More than a monochrome of rain and shine, as these poems show. Travelling the shifting patterns of youthful love and loss, they take us into sun, shade, shower, and the variations in between.

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2015

Reviews

[Ying · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry this was beyond me. While a few of the poetries were pretty well written, many of them strung loosely with very literal or amateurish metaphors that seems to be written by a 14 years old. I'm not saying its bad because who can explain the 4 star rating.
The poetries did not flow from on to the other. There were obvious hints of lost love and lost hope but who doesn't have. Some of them had awkward flows within the lines that seems thoughtlessly placed.

Im sorry but this really lacked the depth i so hoped from by the reviews.

[Elizabeth H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some poems were good, but some sounded like they were written by girls who have been on tumblr a lot and basically paraphrased the usual sounding (not very good) poetry that's present on that site. Also sometimes it felt like they were using enjambment just to make their lines sound more powerful but it really didn't add anything to the poem... but i like how the chapters of the book were divided.

[Jiaying · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed the read especially by a local poet, so it was nice having to be familiar with the various uses of language within the poetry collection. I appreciated Su Ann's attempt to use the analogy of everyday instances; from taxi rides to arrows and bows, to SEA motifs (amulets), the act of eating or simply observing a child's doodles and translating it into the common human experiences or issues faced in the contemporary world. I quite liked the parts where she also attemped to make use of the everyday language or experiences of SGporeans as part of her title or stanzas, just to make it even more relatable and gather readers into revealing certain truths or simple revelations as one grows up and grapples with the complexity of emotions and people. It's as though you feel someone is talking to you.
- "Same same, but indifferent"
- "How you know"
- "Univesity grades"
- "Teh, siu siu dai"
- "Not your bulls-eye"

The rest of the collection mostly deals with heartbreak, loss, the multi-faceted ideas of love and the whirling emotions one might go through and encounter.

These two were really memorable out of all others:
"You are the photograph I could not take"
"The Edible Woman" (reminds me of Melanie Martinez songs and I learnt in Literature lessons that the motif of eating or devouring etc. has got to do with power struggle when it comes to gender roles)
Go give it a read to have a feel of contemporary SG poetry

[Dorothea · Rating 4 out of 5]

First things first, I didn't expect this book to be on Goodreads! At the same time, it brings me a sense of pride knowing that our local writers have books that are on this platform. Unless I've been living under the rock, and this had long since been the norm...?

Nevertheless, Equatorial Sunshine brought me to a state of melancholy. I have to admit that I don't read poetry often, and this by far has to be my first poetry reading in possibly a decade's time.

Su Ann's writing felt raw and personal. On the accounts where lost love were mentioned, I felt as if I was intruding a personal space. Whilst I do recognise that I haven't personally felt those emotions before, I could grasp the concept that she was going for.

Some of my personal favourites from her book were:

- "Army of Stars"
- "Phosphenes"
- "Keeping Count"
- "Anatomy of a Lover"
- "Confirm Sad" (Love the usage of Singlish here!)

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am probably not the audience for this book but I felt like the poems didn't make me ponder as it seemed very shallow. I want poems to be so deep that it makes me look in the distance and mutter "huh" under my breath in wonderment. But I'm giving one star for the book cover cause look at that beauty.

[Dayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

If cotton candy existed in the form of books, this would be it. Not quite solid, sweet, melts on your tongue on contact dissolves to become a part of you. It's made of fluff and fragile things. Su Ann writes like cotton candy. I love her metaphors of her being a concoction of contradicting weathers. I love the fluff and cotton candy granules and conjures into clouds, an atlas of her own making. I felt her pain and her longing and sadness.

I will say I get restless and uninterested when it comes to poetry about lost lovers or any form of break up writing in general, but her writing trapped me in her web and it was like I was I was trapped in the most of clouds, stagnant and free from impact of hard ground. I felt high. I felt like my tongue was free and slippery, its heart free from the frictious bond of language .

I loved the letter to Cassandra. I echoed her emotions, my fears about the future.

Maybe the cover art does show a heart made up of clouds after all.

[Kes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of poetry - the imagery is nice, but it also feels very light. The poems are along the usual themes - focusing on (young) love and break ups. There's some about being a girl and needing to lose weight; it feels like a rather personal poetry collections.

Some poems are rather short too, like Confirm Sad (appreciated the use of Singlish):

There are three sure ways
Never to be happy:
Comparing my Life
To theirs
To dreams
To memory.

What's with the capitalised Life though.

[Airs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It may not be the most "literarily/poetically-profound" book, but its everyday-ness is precisely what makes it appealing. And very relatable for any who have experienced love and loss (pretty much anyone then?)

Written in very smooth poetic language that goes right to the heart. I've not read much poetry because I usually find them too abstract, and too staccato to get into the flow. This isn't that. Almost like a prose of poetry if that makes sense. Will definitely reach for it again.

[Jericho Eames · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved her collection. It made my heart ache with longing and sigh with hope. She has a way of threading words together to whisper ever so quietly telling you that you are worth more than you're told. She makes me feel light headed and high on euphoria.

[Qiaoyuan · Rating 4 out of 5]

simple pretty words

[Avery · Rating 1 out of 5]

the ones that are good are really good and the ones that are bad are just really really bad

[Kath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brilliant expression of Su Ann's book of poems on love and her feelings is truly inspiring. Love is a wonderful gift and this is so central to the theme of her poems throughout. There is purity and clarity of the writer's mind which is reflected in all her poems. Her thoughts and words are so apt, so philosophical of the love that was once there and lost.
I applaud the writer's clever use of the language of contrast with the likes of bitter and sweet, joy and pain, sun and the rain, brilliant and poor, near and the distant and many more.
Likewise, there are gems to be found in every sub-header. PHILOSOPHY 101 , BETTER WITH AGE, A FREEDOM YOU DON'T WANT are among my favorites. I like best ENGLISH LESSONS which seriously depicts life's harsh realities. There are many more other inspiring pieces. The whole delivery of the book is just superb. It is really difficult not to love this book.
A good and enjoyable read. Simply put, I am so glad to read it not once but twice over.
Definitely this is a book to be savored!

Katherine Song

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the pretentious, this little book of poetry represents the raw thoughts and feelings of those on their way to finding themselves. Put yourself back into the shoes of your younger self, when love, life, loss and everything in between threw you like a curveball; to a time when you weren’t quite sure of everything you thought you understood; when the black and white of life became the many shades of grey and sudden bursts of colour you wished you could comprehend in an instant. It is this journey that the poems in this book share with its readers; the process of discovery, the struggles, the acceptance, and finally the contentment with the inevitable and unchangeable.

A serene read for those who have yet to experience this as a guide to what the future might be like, as well as for those who have been there and done that to reflect once again on the rollercoaster that was their late teens and early twenties. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and straightforward articulation of the complex, disjointed thoughts that flows through the mind during this period.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initial thoughts: This book offers more than collection of poems — it also contains snippets of musings. These musings are laid out in prose but in a lyrical manner befitting a collection of poems. Heartfelt from the first to last word, Equatorial Sunshine was a joy to read, even when I recognised sadness that I've come to know all too well.

I think this is a gem of a book that has been added to Singapore literature. As much as the emotions expressed are universal, there are parts that are particular familiar to those who have grown up or lived in Singapore. This is such a delightful debut, I hope Su Ann will come to publish more in future with an even greater depth to her poetry.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is an interesting collection of thoughts, but between the poems and prose there lack some unity.I had the distinct impression of difficulty and confusion moving between poems of different content and style. The idea behind some poems had potential, but in the end lacked depth.

[Shaun Lew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resonance in simple words.

[Lauren Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

With a cover so lovely, I should have expected the shallowest of "poetry"; rich voices wear neither lipstick nor ribbons to command a crowd.

D.N.F.