Eric Valles

Frozen Assets (A Sculpture in Front of SMU)

Ten thousand coins poured at a roundabout,
Suspended in time, without a clink,
Like a cracked iron bell that once tolled,
Mourned for in a nearby church;
Rust creeps on the brazen display
Like robbers on the Yellow Emperor’s hoard,
Moored on horseshoe clamps and clay,
Outshone by a Cathay billboard.
The sculpture’s alto ring (with a tap)
Is lost in the din of sputtering engines
Rushing. By love of lucre their owners trapped,

In Nicoll highway’s cave-in2 played a part.
A torrent of coins deposited in air
Crushes limbs and smothers art.

1 The Singapore Management University

2 An accident caused reportedly by the use of cheap, substandard construction materials that resulted in several deaths.


 


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Eric Valles is a Filipino poet who has published the poetry collection entitled A World in Transit with Singapore literary publisher Ethos Books. The book has generated a lot of interest. Eric is set to participate in a panel discussion on the creative rendering of the migrant experience in a big local bookstore, and to read some of the poems therein at a conference with the island’s founding father, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. He will also be included in the soon-to-be-launched Under the Storm anthology of contemporary Philippine poetry.