omar mohd. nor ' s poems : an advertisement ... (singapore)

TENGGARA / april 1968.
department of english/ univ. of malaya


              an advertisement  
              by omar mohd. nor  


Anyone for the sharing?
this rich- rounded but himilated life
which has not been tapped yet
but guaranteed fully self-nurtured and grown
with periodic adjustments including time
at a psychiatrist and ward
reading too much too soon 
asked too many questions with no built in answers
a tingling time.

i an still strong
still productive after a year of negativity , 1965
one year
new viguour, new investment of
words on paper
with renewed and re-injected fervour
towards a more prolific output
come to my factory and
by and nead more
local Malay poems written in English
gor global communications.

my heads aks me
" What is the meaning of opposition in Parliament "



the mosque


the mosque has become deserted
only ederly people congregate
for they still believe in hell- gate
and they refused in be conquered 

on weekday it is empty
on weeknights it is slightly filled
for they have never remained still
and they refuse to be spoil by impiety.

the mosque can only depend on them
to worship in it
the hopes in them still in
and they still cannot condemn.

i always pass by it everyday
ignoring the call made my muezzins
i feel i can ignore it till when
the time comes for me to pray.


malaysian sun misbehaves


here i lie under a cool Malaysian sun
resembling a mild-hot day in English July
the coolness that prevails is die the coolness among us
after too long a period of strifle and stress
which have ever increased the heat of the sun
making it impossible to talk without spoiling the throat
to work without searching the mind which
still lacks an air-conditioned plant.

if man's mind is the reservoir of invention
why doesn' t it insert a cool spot
in the very chamber which creates and destroys
let's get back in the Malaysian sun
which is now trying to believe like a European sun
perhaps the sun deserves more westernisation after
rising in the east fot two long a time
perhaps concurently with the first psychiologist in the world
Adam .

 OMAR MOHD. NOR  
 is a final year undergraduate  in English of the University of Singapore. [1968]

< TENGGARA /  april 1968 / volume two- number one>