REFLECTION

The poem tells us about the domestic affairs in the modern world. The problem mostly lies on the bad blood between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. As they are not at a very close term, conflicts happen frequently.

I have put myself into the shoes of the old grandmother, to look at things at her perceptions.
I try to treat Karen as a demon, and how mentally tortured I was by her. At the same time, I try to show the true colours of Karen to the readers. I also pointed out the whole story in a specific manner.

I would like to achieve the effect of getting people to feel what the old grandmother is going through - feel pathetic of her and how inconsiderate Karen is. At the same time, I would also like to captivate the reader’s attention. Poetic devices used such as rhyming in some parts of the poem may help to keep the readers captivated.

From the comments commented by several friends, I can conclude that my poem is enjoyed by them. In particular the creativity and specification in the poem.

Poem (3) Monster Karen

Karen is my daughter-in-law
But she is a monster
And an incredible actor
She pretends to be caring
But what are behind the scenes?





She loathes me and my antique furnitures
And claims that they are filthy
and unhealthy for the family
Especially my treasured bed,
that she thinks fill of bugs and vermin
Worse thing is, she called that 'the monster '

It makes her fume
When i occupy one of the rooms
She had intentions
Of getting me out
I know that
And it is somehow making her mad
to let Sai Khong nod his head

At work, she complains about me
to her colleagues
How troublesome, dirty
eyesore, loathsome i was to her
And how i mispronounce her children's names

I am now very sick
And they were planning what to do with me
It's best to get her to the hospital
Suggested the doctor
The next moment her face became brighter
As if she was about to conquer the world

'It'll be a great idea, doctors know the best'
I really wanted to shout at her
To spew out all her bad intentions
And to beg my son to let me die on my bed

But it was to no avail
I was too frail
to voice that out
The next thing i know is,
Evil Karen would be throwing my treasured bed away

Until Sai Khong tells her that
those things actually worth a little fortune
Materialisticcally
She did be starting to be concern about me
while she sells away
my treasure, her monster

Poem (2)

I woke up early in the morning,
Before the birds starts chirping
365 days, a non stop routine
I rush to the market,
To get the freshest ingredient
Before it’s all being wiped out
Hurry to my stall
And start preparing
Boiling, steaming, frying
On the lights of the banner
Time for business
Starting a hurricane in my stall
So messy I’d got a C
All sorts of silly customers
Not too spicy, oily, messy
I wanted to ignore them
But complains were the main problems
Reaching home after a buzzing day
Lying on my comfortable bed
Is so great
I had no choice but to live like that
I had no qualifications
And there left a burden
Clinging on me – my family

Poem (1)

I woke up at 5am
before the day break
365 days,
a non-stop routine
Have a wash up
and two pieces of plain bread for breakfast
Though I know that two pieces of bread cannot last long

I had to hurry to set up my stall
in the middle of the hawker centre
Collect the freshest ingredients
before it is all being wiped out
I work for 14 hours a day
Only having 30 minutes of break

I’m always the one working hard at the back
People at the front will never know how hard I work
Although I always had a smile on my face
I was actually sad on the inside
I got fed up at every little mistake I make
And blamed my partner if anything goes wrong

I had once thought of giving up
But after many thoughts of it
I decided to erase the thought off my mind
I keep thinking why I need to work so hard
I needed to keep my family going

It is a very tiring job
Everytime I reach home
I would sit on the chair
Wondering why I am here,
working as a chef in the hawker centre
And not in the restaurant
I regretted for not studying hard
when I was a teenager.

About me!

Name: Chua Jing Wen
Class: S1E3
Current school: Hua Yi Sec
Primary school: Pei Tong Pri
Country: Singapore
Subject: Literature