Professions

by Amanda Chong

Professions is a poet's directory of heartbreak. The backbone of this collection is a cycle of fractured relationships, where professional preoccupations tear lovers apart as distrust and incomprehension brew. Set against this are glimpses of indestructible intimacy — between a mother, a granddaughter, and a friend.

Amanda Chong's poems observe the doomed practice of the heart: solitary experiences, never fully nor mutually understood until too late.

Genres: Poetry

61 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

Amanda Chong is a lawyer trained in Cambridge and Harvard, who writes poems on her lunch breaks. A winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, her poetry has been engraved on the Marina Bay Helix Bridge and included in the Cambridge International GCSE syllabus.

She is interested in exploring themes of gender and power in both her poetry and academic writing, which has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. Her creative work has appeared in Monocle, the Straits Times and Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. Her first collection of poetry, Professions, was published in 2016 under Math Paper Press's Ten Year Series imprint.

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

i came to this book with excitement & high expectations but this was genuinely.. so terrible. disappointed given that amanda chong is one of the darlings of sg lit rn. singaporean poetry to me is often characterised by its dependence on imagery, metaphor, to carry the whole meaning of the poem. so then it comes down to the individual's ability to generate unique & compelling metaphors, & being able to balance the sentiment if using nostalgic/romantic diction.

over-reliance on imagery aside, this is to me is where these poems fail. the images were (1) so steeped in sentimentality (2) cliched images/phrases like

"what did I ever say to you that hadn't yet / been said in the history of love?"

"i sharpen my longing for you into a dart"

"still i kissed you at dawn, in a climatic scene
when you left on your inevitable journey of self discovery."

"i will plunge for you, into / the petals of unfolding galaxies."

from "The Illusionist"

"Tonight, brace yourself
for my final vanishing trick:
Half of you, left tuxedoed on stage.
Other half was always inside my head."

🤔 genuinely confused that this is seen as interesting work

she was right to put "visit to the yakult factory, 1995" as the opening poem and "mute swans" to close as those are the two strongest poems. (detailed review here: http://blog.herbonestructure.com/post...)

[Pammo · Rating 5 out of 5]

i don't know if it's just the late night or that i'm a huge sucker for doomed relationships/connections but this book made me bawl buckets! favourite poems: how is it that we were magnetised?, yearbook, and all our clocks--the latter a fantastic build-up across five parts. her poetry has been featured in many anthologies, even gaining a permanent space at the marina bay helix bridge in singapore, and this is her first feature book of poetry.

highly recommend. i cannot wait to read more.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

im too single for this poetry collection

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chong offers us unflinching pieces which trace back genealogies of shattered relationships, showing how our rough edges resist Aristophanes' myth about lovers as halves of a perfect whole.

[Review 1 - 05/05/17.]

[faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

a touching collection of poems with what i'd consider a rather particular style (i can't verbalise it but it feels distinct to me). i enjoyed the idea of the interspersion of poems written from different professions (extended metaphor lesgo), though my favourite poems were mostly outside of these. certainly i think the concepts behind a lot of poems were very interesting (from the perspective of a girl who died in an accident to a person on a death row). she also captures certain feelings, to varying levels of success. as always, what i love about singlit is how it turns the everyday familiar, prosaic, into poetry (in this case, literally).

some favourites:
- The way only recent strangers do: "studied sag of indifference / in shoulders, half-smile, again I am learning to / still my hands from reaching the way only recent strangers do."
- Domestic Premonition
- Notes from a Colonist, 2065: vv interesting concept, exploring colonialism... from the future - a future that is a new past
- The Illusionist: "Tonight, brace yourself / for my final vanishing trick: / Half of you, left tuxedoed on stage. / Other half was always inside my head."
- Museum of Aborted Romance: really captures that "almost" feeling
- Monsoon Girls: the poet and i went to the same girls' secondary school and this transports me to a different time, so recent and yet strangely far away
- Yearbook: an ode to her mother, and housewives
- Bukit Brown: "When will we tire of this constant / reaching in the dark? Never certain / of what we want, but wanting it to be there."
- Mute Swans: love the extended metaphor and imagery

[Shea Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the poems in this anthology are well-written sappy lovelorn poems. The 2 poems that are standouts for me include Yearbook, a tribute to her mum and Timbuktu, for her grandma. Written simply and beautifully, they speak of the sacrificial love and influence of a mum and grandma. Truly touching!

[mantareads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I dont think im the target demographic here, so there's that...there are some nice lines and images here, but i cringed quite hard at some of the rhymes in the poems. Many of these poems start out promisingly, but I think love and heartbreak written in this vein is just not my cup of tea. I quite liked the last piece, "Rubicon", though.

[Eunice Ying Ci · Rating 4 out of 5]

This heartfelt collection reminded me of my own IXORA DAYS, circling low bushes, plucking off stems and bringing them to my lips to unsheathe that white thread with its drop of sweetness. The other poems I like include Domestic Premonition, Endings, The Writer, and Bukit Brown.

[Samantha Kwan · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than being brilliant literature, there is strength in the vulnerability displayed in this anthology, as her writing speak an emotional truth that allows anyone to connect from wherever they are. There is a beauty in the honesty she speaks in, and I loved every minute of it.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites: endings, the playwright, malacca, the astronomer, post-apocalyptic love, the writer, palmistry, burial rites, mornings after, all our clocks

[lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

well balanced collection of poetry, touches a nerve for me.

[Books and Beer Singapore]

Wonderful collection of poems

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm a massive Singlit Ho, Let Me Live
i think one thing that always fascinates me about poetry collections is whether they're edited well or not, and you can usually tell by the way that the poems are arranged and the consistency of quality and wow this is some pretty good and well arranged poetry if i do say so myself
favourite poem is notes from a colonialist, 2065 because i heard amanda chong read it at a panel at singapore writers festival first, and also because it's in luxury we must afford and i really like the themes and imagery :')

[cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the poems were a bit hit or miss, and they resonated with me on different levels. What was consistent was her excellent use of language and her ability to weave vivid worlds out of simple words. I read this as an immature 2019 lit kid, and I think I should read it again some time so I may hopefully be able to get more of the nuance!