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City of Rain
- GenresPoetry
98 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Alvin Pang
50 books73 followersAlvin PANG is a poet, writer, editor, anthologist, and translator. Writing primarily in English, his poetry has been translated into more than 20 languages, and he has appeared in major festivals and anthologies worldwide.
A Fellow of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (2002), his publications include Testing the Silence (1997), City of Rain (2003), What Gives Us Our Names (2011). The anthologies he has curated include No Other City: The Ethos Anthology of Urban Poetry (2000); Over There: Poems from Singapore and Australia (co-edited with John Kinsella, 2008), and Tumasik: Contemporary Writing from Singapore (Autumn Hill: USA, 2009). His most recent volumes of poetry, OTHER THINGS AND OTHER POEMS (Brutal:Croatia), Teorija strun ["String Theory"] (JKSD:Slovenia) and WHEN THE BARBARIANS ARRIVE (Arc Publications,UK), were published in 2012.
His latest book is WHAT HAPPENED: Poems 1997-2017.
Listed in the Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry in English (2nd Edition), Pang is a founding director of The Literary Centre – a non-profit initiative promoting interdisciplinary capacity, multilingual communication, and positive social change. Among other public engagements, he is on the board of the International Poetry Studies Institute, and the editor-in-chief of an internationally circulated public policy journal. Pang was named the 2005 Young Artist of the Year for Literature by Singapore’s National Arts Council, and was conferred the Singapore Youth Award (Arts and Culture) in 2007.
A Fellow of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (2002), his publications include Testing the Silence (1997), City of Rain (2003), What Gives Us Our Names (2011). The anthologies he has curated include No Other City: The Ethos Anthology of Urban Poetry (2000); Over There: Poems from Singapore and Australia (co-edited with John Kinsella, 2008), and Tumasik: Contemporary Writing from Singapore (Autumn Hill: USA, 2009). His most recent volumes of poetry, OTHER THINGS AND OTHER POEMS (Brutal:Croatia), Teorija strun ["String Theory"] (JKSD:Slovenia) and WHEN THE BARBARIANS ARRIVE (Arc Publications,UK), were published in 2012.
His latest book is WHAT HAPPENED: Poems 1997-2017.
Listed in the Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry in English (2nd Edition), Pang is a founding director of The Literary Centre – a non-profit initiative promoting interdisciplinary capacity, multilingual communication, and positive social change. Among other public engagements, he is on the board of the International Poetry Studies Institute, and the editor-in-chief of an internationally circulated public policy journal. Pang was named the 2005 Young Artist of the Year for Literature by Singapore’s National Arts Council, and was conferred the Singapore Youth Award (Arts and Culture) in 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 6, 2011
I really liked this volume. Remembered picking it up while I was visiting Singapore again and started reading it while I was on the MRT. Read 'UPGRADING' and started laughing. Couldn't help myself. Poetry can sometimes be quite heavy but Pang has a way with words and this piece was quite funny.
Sample lines:
I want a bedroom so capacious I can park a Jaguar in it.
Two Jaguars. I want it large enough to be a local oddity, a tourist
attraction, the subject of awe and envy, a heritage site.
So huge, developers will knock on my heavy door, asking to turn
my land into condos for profit, and I will gleefully refuse.
As you can see, he's quite entertaining. ;p Another one of my favourites is "S.WHILE IN THERAPY". The first line reads : Leapt from another tall building today. You could probably already guess who this is about.
Though containing quite a few humourous poems, it does contain some serious poetry. It's a good volume to pick up and enjoy and revisit. Particularly if you've been to Singapore and this part of the world. :D
Sample lines:
I want a bedroom so capacious I can park a Jaguar in it.
Two Jaguars. I want it large enough to be a local oddity, a tourist
attraction, the subject of awe and envy, a heritage site.
So huge, developers will knock on my heavy door, asking to turn
my land into condos for profit, and I will gleefully refuse.
As you can see, he's quite entertaining. ;p Another one of my favourites is "S.WHILE IN THERAPY". The first line reads : Leapt from another tall building today. You could probably already guess who this is about.
Though containing quite a few humourous poems, it does contain some serious poetry. It's a good volume to pick up and enjoy and revisit. Particularly if you've been to Singapore and this part of the world. :D
October 31, 2012
Poems I loved: New Eyes and Knowing! :)
February 3, 2022
Where to begin? Pang's poetry takes me into the thick of my own backyard and shows me treasure cupped in weathered hands, trinkets I have never seen before, Singapore reimagined and rediscovered. Forget the MRT map - this is the pocket guide to this tiny island. Particularly love "To Go to S'pore", an adaptation of Zagajewski's "To Go to Lvóv."
July 25, 2018
Upon reading the first few poems in Books Actually, I have no doubt that this book is one of the best book of poems I have ever read. The storytelling in each poem takes you to a certain maturity of the author as he relates some issues in the most creative and artistic of ways. A must have.
May 13, 2017
god like. like i cannot emphasize how much i love this book of pomes. out of the three books that i'm doing for my research paper, this is my favourite. pang's voice is strong, clear and intelligent — if someone asked me to explain singapore to them in poetry, this might be the volume i would use.
November 15, 2013
Alvin Pang makes poetry look so easy! A smooth ride through each poem takes us to urban locations ripe with passing profundity and flashy, philosophical insights.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews