They Speak Only Our Mother Tongue
Out of stock
“What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?” asks Lewis Carroll’s Alice.
Perhaps there isn’t any. But within this slim poetry volume, Theophilus Kwek has painted the images and articulated the exchanges that shape his landscape, family and self – an open invitation to partake, with him, in a feast of the soul and for the senses. Join this young writer as he embarks on, as John Morley describes, “the most seductive, the most deceiving, the most dangerous” of journeys, and steps forward to reclaim his tongue.
They Speak Only Our Mother Tongue
Slide to see
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
Reviews
“There is a pulsing honesty to Theo’s writing - at the same time sophisticated, resonantly simple and childlike in its playfulness. Readers will find his joy with words and life infectious as they explore the turns of phrase in these poems, whose meanings extend both inward to a core of person-ness we all share, and outward to an external world that holds continual surprise.” - Aaron Maniam, author of Morning at Memory’s Border
“Honest, translucent and charged with quiet urgency. Theophilus writes with the pressing clarity of a young Alvin Pang.” – Daren Shiau, author of Heartland, Peninsular: Archipelagos and Other Islands and Velouria.
“There is something deeply compelling about Kwek’s poetry, because it never purports to be other than what it is: the heartfelt yet deeply considered views of an informed young person on the cusp of a wider world.” - Alvin Pang, author of City of Rain and Testing The Silence
“His best poems, well crafted, sustained, thought-provoking, already exhibit a gratifying maturity, complexity and wit. That Kwek should be writing memorable poetry of this quality at 17 is extraordinary.” - Angus Whitehead, Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language & Literature
Poetry
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
womb song
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Patient History
Paperback
$18.00 SGD
dragon.paper.wind. (龙卷风)
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
The Orchid Folios
Paperback
$16.82 SGD
E-book
$16.82 SGD
parsetreeforestfire
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Intruder
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Giving Ground
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
Paperback (autographed)
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
Floating Clouds Beyond The Elastic Limit
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
Paperback (autographed)
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
A Flying Crystal
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
A Walk With My Pig
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
A Bad Girl's Book of Animals
Paperback
$16.82 SGD
E-book
$16.82 SGD
GAZE BACK
Paperback
$5.61 SGD $9.35 SGD
(Imperfect) Unhomed
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Paperback
$21.00 SGD
Picking off new shoots will not stop the spring: Witness poems and essays from Burma/Myanmar (1988-2021)
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Some Say, A Tapir
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Farquhar
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Poetry Moves: An Anthology of Poetry
Paperback
$20.56 SGD
Contour: A Lyric Cartography of Singapore
Paperback
$28.04 SGD
To Gather Your Leaving: Asian Diaspora Poetry from America, Australia, UK and Europe
Paperback
$28.00 SGD
A Gathering of Themes
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
E-book
$14.00 SGD
a tiny space
Paperback
$17.00 SGD
E-book
$17.00 SGD
Right of the Soil
Paperback
$28.00 SGD
E-book
$28.00 SGD
Common Life: Drawings and Poems
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
UnFree Verse
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Lost Bodies: Poems between Portugal and Home
Paperback
$18.70 SGD
This Is Not A Safety Barrier: An Anthology of Poetry & Photography
Paperback
$18.00 SGD
I Found A Bone and Other Poems
Paperback
$12.00 SGD
E-book
$12.00 SGD
Me Migrant
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Phedra
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Spomenik
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
Bitter Punch
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Singapore Notebook & Blessed Isle
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
UNION : 15 Years of Drunken Boat, 50 Years of Writing From Singapore
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Ars Poetica for the Day
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Do You Live In?
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
The Wrong/Wrung Side of Love
Paperback
$21.50 SGD
Babel Via Negativa
Paperback
$18.00 SGD
Teaching Poetry To Adolescents: A Teacher's Guide to Little Things
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
Never Before—50 Essential Poems / 不可预期—诗精50首
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
SG Poems 2017-2018
Out of stock
Paperback
$11.21 SGD
Love at the Gallery
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
SG Poems 2015-2016
Out of stock
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
Pilgrimage
Out of stock
Paperback
$9.35 SGD
Unhomed
Out of stock
Paperback
$9.35 SGD
Crossing Universes
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
一首诗的时间 2015
Out of stock
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Right of the Soil (Chapbook)
Out of stock
Paperback
$13.00 SGD
Finding Francis: A Poetic Adventure
Out of stock
Paperback
$14.95 SGD
Footfalls in the Rain
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
Light is like water
Out of stock
Attunement
Is life hustling you out of tune? As the week roars by, we invite you to a slice of attunement penned lovingly by our authors, friends, and yours truly. Freshly delivered weekly with care. Intimacy guaranteed. Read selected letters below.
Magical, luminous things
Feb 19, 2022
I have flown across an ocean this week. This still sounds surreal to say.
Read more
No negotiation for blood debt
Feb 14, 2022
The Burmese language resistance poetry is deeply embedded in the country’s colonial past. When mo...
Read more
Burning holes in the darkness
Feb 7, 2022
Poets killed in broad daylight, writers tortured and maimed. I wonder if their ghosts watch on fr...
Read more
