The Planner

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Tax policies designed to attract business to the country were put in place, and the economy exploded in the 1960s and 70s. It has remained strong ever since. This wealth and population growth coupled with the limited land available meant that much of the country was appropriated so huge skyscapers could be built. Today these house 80-90% of the population.

The poem is divided into three stanzas of uneven length with lines also of uneven length. Sentence length is varied and there is no regular metrical rhythm. The poet has included irregular rhyme — for example the consonantly rhyming ‘build’, ‘gridded’ and ‘filled’, which provides some unity in an otherwise unstructured poem. Lines are enjambed. This free-verse structure is ironic, a statement of rebellion, as the essence of the poem is the theme of control and regularity, not only in buildings but also in life.Kim Boey Cheng is a Singaporean-Australian poet and now professor of creative writing at an Australian university. The poem relates to his time as a boy growing up in a rapidly modernising Singaporean society.

Notable is the use of planning and building jargon — ‘gridded’, ‘alignment’, ‘piling’ and ‘drilling’. This is contrasted with the lyrical ‘flaws and blemishes of the past’, the ‘skies surrender’ and the speaker’s ‘heart’ that ‘would not bleed’. The overall effect is complex and cleverly crafted. The detailed annotations provide deeper analysis. The Planners’ reflects the dramatic changes and how Singapore’s past culture was — as the poet sees it — obliterated to make way for new skyscrapers and for modernity. The voice is that of a first person speaker, we can assume the poet. The tone is dry and ironic as he describes the rapid changes in the culture of Singapore, and the fiercely efficient planning that is part of the process.