Vital Possessions

by Marc Nair

Vital Possessions by Marc Nair contemplates how city-dwellers negotiate their uneasy relationship with nature in a world where growth is both man-made and natural. The jungle is always one trim away from over-running us and we are often oblivious to it. The poems question what we hold as vital amid ceaseless consumption and our urban existence.

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Marc Nair is a poet and photographer from Singapore. He has published five volumes of poetry and has also been featured in a number of anthologies. He has performed spoken word both competitively and on tour in over ten countries and also performs regularly with his band, Neon and Wonder. He is the co-founder of Mackerel, an online culture magazine.

www.marcnair.com | www.mackerel.life

Reviews

[L.E.]

‘Should you turn us into another postcard, we will litter by the thousands…we are more than…a backdrop of / leaping fish or frangible seashells on the mud-flats.’
- Agur

‘it is cool enough to taste the sun’
- The Picknickers


This poetry and photography collection is like a gentle yet confronting breeze. The tercets (with the accompanying photos) were some of my most favorite pieces. Glad I picked it up from Arab Street!

[CuriousBookReviewer]

Curiosity level: Organic!
•
“We all step on snails in gardens, after a long rain and in slivers of darkness between streetlights. They never knew what hits them, few survive, leaving a trail of minced meat...” -p.23
•
Up Sounds grisly, but it’s true! This beautifully designed book by @ethosbooks is an ode to nature, beauty, and vital possessions of the heart. It was fun ‘scavenging’ for the hidden metaphors and allegories in his poems. I really like that this book was birthed out of Marc’s 2015 Writer-In-Residence programme at Gardens by the Bay - so if you like snails, earwigs, trees, flowers (like I do) - this book has got it all. His gift as a poet and photographer can be found tucked away in-between pages where we’re presented with a photo and a haiku! A refreshing, leafy read!

[mm]

Marc Nair documents the world around him through haikus/almost-haikus (isn't a haiku 5-7-5?) with evocative photographs, poems and prose. His simple lyrical language brings everything the normal to our attention and gives us pause for thought. Of office workers, of construction workers, of nature, of the world.

For example, the almost-haiku
'Nature never fails
to push against the grain
of forgotten cities'
accompanies a photograph of ferns breaking through a brick wall.

Not just Nair's writings but the font chosen by the publishers is also beautiful and proper match for the words. Good job, Ethos Books. It is small details like this that makes reading a joy.

[Kes]

Nice book, many interesting turns of phrases. Liked the poem about snails.

One haiku:
Sweeping is lonely
Work; constantly looking
For the unwanted

Great example of poetry leading somewhere unexpected.

Or the line “where god dwells there is no fire // only a house without smoke”

I also appreciated the author’s vocabulary is wider than usual.

[Rebecca]

loved this collection. reading it is like sitting down and taking a moment to breathe and slow down.