Day 8
30 Days Of Art With NAC: Silent Revolution by Deborah Emmanuel
To inspire and uplift readers as the country emerges from the Covid-19 circuit breaker, The Straits Times, supported by the National Arts Council as part of the #SGCultureAnywhere campaign, has commissioned 30 works by local writers and artists on the pandemic and what it will be like when all this is over
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ST ILLUSTRATION: CEL GULAPA
Follow topic:
In the spaces between these words,
first light blooms upon a mountain of shadow.
All that is hidden floats to the surface,
dying fish rising out of the ocean.
All that was unsaid dangles in the air,
a delicate mobile dancing into form.
In solitude, resilience springs forth,
a fountain which did not know itself.
In the chasms between each sound
whole civilisations are found
birthing themselves from the rubble,
peeling away bandages from forgotten fruit,
striking matches for a new fire.
A fragile world
crumbles to become
a
perfect circle.
A star shines bright in a traffic-void sky. From the silence,
a single breath
is drawn
into
the belly
of the universe,
releasing winds of revolution upon an unsuspecting earth.
• Deborah Emmanuel, 31, is a singer, performance artist and the author of three books, including memoir Rebel Rites (2016) and poetry collection Genesis (2019). During the circuit breaker, she got a puppy called Loki/Low Key.
• For more local digital arts offerings, visit a-list.sg to appreciate #SGCultureAnywhere
