Form & Structure: Twin Cinema

Guiding Questions:
1. Let’s start by focusing on the Title of the poem. What do you predict this poem to be about?
A Singaporean who is sent for national service and his experiences and sacrifices associated with serving in the
military.

2.Read the poem. Circle Words that stand out to you.

3.Are there any strong Images formed in your mind as you read the poems? Please underline the words that
create the images and write what these images are next to the words.

4.What do you notice about the Structure and form of the poem?
(Look at the number of lines, rhyme pattern, rhythm, number of syllables, etc.)
It lacks a consistent rhyme pattern and rhythm, and the number of syllables per line varies, enhancing the
emotional impact of the speaker's reflections on their son's military service. The form of the poem mirrors the
uncertainty and emotional complexity of the themes explored, allowing for a raw and heartfelt expression of the
parent's concerns and hopes for their child in the context of national service.

5.List the Themes of this poem.

Patriotism and Duty: Highlighted through the son's commitment to defending his country and the expectations
placed on him by society.
Sacrifice and Risk: Explored through the dangers faced by soldiers during training and service, causing anguish
for their families.
Transition to Adulthood: Illustrated by the process of a boy becoming a man through national service, impacting
both the individual and their loved ones.
Uncertainty and Longing: Emphasized by the parents' longing for closure and the uncertainty of whether their
son will return home safely.

6.How would you describe the Tone of the speaker here?

The speaker's tone in the document is a mix of concern, expectation, and a call for investigation. There is a sense
of unease regarding the safety of soldiers during training, with an emphasis on the duty of officers to ensure their
well-being. The speaker expresses a need for closure and highlights the emotional turmoil experienced by a
mother as her son undergoes the transformative process of national service. The tone conveys a blend of worry,
duty, and a desire for clarity and reassurance in the face of uncertainty.

7.Who do you think the speaker is? Consider the speaker’s age, nationality, occupation, relationship with the
person he is addressing in the poem.

The relationship with the person addressed in the poem is that of a parent to their son, expressing worry, pride,
and a desire for safety and closure amidst the challenges of military training and service.

8.Putting on your Literature Expert cap, identify any Poetic devices in the poem by highlighting them. Write the
device being used next to it.

Alliteration: "send him to his camp" - emphasizes the action of sending the son to military camp through the
repetition of the 's' sound.
Personification: "a mother's heartbreak process" - attributes human emotions like heartbreak to the abstract
concept of a process, creating a vivid image of the mother's emotional turmoil.
Imagery: "the boy is not making his way home" - creates a poignant image of the uncertainty and fear
surrounding the son's safety and return, evoking a sense of loss and longing.

Twin cinema is a poetic form written in two discrete columns.

Each column can be read individually from top to bottom, often present correlating or contrasting
images, or viewpoints at odds with each other. It’s beauty lies in its ability to be read also across. When
done so, each poem tells a different story / reveals new meaning. The first twin cinema poem was
created by Singaporean poet Yeow Kai Chai, entitled “Begone Dull Care”. Other notable twin cinema
poems include “For the End comes reaching” by Singaporean poet David Wong Hsien Ming, and
“Singaporean Son” by visual storyteller Low Kian Seh.
The divide in the middle may reflect may reflect the heart break of the parents. it at its most compelling
when the poet achieves not just two, but three ways of reading it, not just top to bottom, but also across,
a poem at once broken and unbroken, reaching across the gaps to put a new twist on opposing
meanings. It may suggest that everyone has a different point of view of the incident that happened as
death is a controversial and sometime taboo topic to be discussed.

Context

SINGAPORE - Full-time national serviceman Dave Lee Han Xuan was a natural role model who was positive and
helpful, said his scout commander and fellow platoon mate.

In a Facebook post on Thursday (May 3), the Singapore Army said Corporal First Class Lee "impacted lives of
soldiers in more than one way".
The 19-year-old died on Monday, two weeks after being admitted to Changi General Hospital for heatstroke. He
later received a posthumous promotion from private to corporal first class.

S'porean pens poignant 2-column poem in response to death of NSF guardsman Dave Lee

Low Kian Seh, however, expressed his personal feelings about Lee's passing by penning a poignant
twin cinema poem titled "Singaporean Son".

"What is enough when the boy is not making his way home?" These were the words Dave’s mother said
in an interview and it triggers Kian Seh to write this poem in a mere matter of 30 mins.
Low Kian Seh is the Head of Department at Temasek Junior College. Low Kian Seh has a chemical
engineering degree but is an artist to a larger degree. He is a chemistry teacher by occupation but has
poetry as preoccupation. For the love of the craft, he makes time to write, despite being a busy civil
servant and father-of-three. His works had been published in SingPoWriMo anthologies, A Luxury We
Cannot Afford, A Luxury We Must Afford, Twin Cities, Anima Methodi, Contour and Seven Hundred
Lines. He won first prize in Singapore’s National Poetry Competition 2019, and is better known for his
twin cinema poem “Singaporean Son” that has gone viral, twice.