My Makeshift Motherland
We commute seamlessly,
callous to our suffocating borders.
With a single flick of the wrist—thousands are transferred flauntingly,
but never donated altruistically.
Fawning over the newest transient novelty (you’ll throw it out in a week), we ravage to declare, ‘I bought that yesterday right before it was sold out everywhere’—
without sparing a thought for
the naked or the climate clock.
Their vivacious nature blankets this wonderful *little red dot with performative patriotism,
and sheer apathy.
Their materialistic vices boost the economy,
just not that of the needy.
Their hunger for (loud) victory brings about amiable competition and sportsmanship,
and starves unfortunate bodies while dehydrating the seas of this Earth.
I adore this transitional town.
I devote my life to it.
I will never let my nurtured beliefs falter.
I love this makeshift motherland.
(and you’ll succumb to its rulers)
*little red dot: a nickname often used in the media and in casual conversation to refer to Singapore.
Alanna Tan is a 15-year-old student poet from Singapore. Her work explores human complexity and the politics of perception. Alanna is currently preparing for her O-Level examinations while submitting to journals at 3a.m. She hopes to keep bending language until it bleeds what the soul cannot.