THE MAGPIES by Denis Glover, read by Jasmine Low

The Magpies is one of the most well-known poems, depicting the everlasting and unchanging Magpie call (nature) as life happens (passage of time). It was written in only six stanzas by New Zealand poet, printer, publisher, satirist, sailor and boxer Denis Glover (1912-1980). And here's the most famous, benign line that seems so simple and yet time withstanding: -- "And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle/The magpies said," -- The Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a black and white chesty bird native to Australia and New Guinea. Famous for their vocalisations that mimic the environment, Jasmine was targeted three consecutive times and was 'swooped' on her head while walking past a street in Zetland, NSW. When she recorded this from her mother's balcony in Sydney, there was surely a commotion, magpies were congregating from one tree then to another. What a loud and busy affair it was! The Magpies is read by Jasmine Low as a tribute to the nation, Australia, one of the luckiest countries in the world, her second home. She is neither native to the other land she calls home, Malaysia, but that is still her Motherland. The land where her mother and her mother's mother were born, bred and lived. They were the Nanyang Chinese who immigrated at the turn of the 20th century in search of a new home. As a fourth generation Malaysian Chinese now living in Australia, IDENTITY has been a lifelong quest. No land welcomes her home except in the quiet of her heart. Even there, appears a conflict of duality where an all-serving filial piety native meets a braver Mulan-like idealistic artist. Who wins? Not her but the Magpie will keep its calling true. Official podcast website: https://listenbyheartpodcast.wordpres... Also streaming on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | wherever you get your podcasts. Search for "Listen by Heart: Voices from the Women of the South China Seas" published by GoJasmineLow. Read the full poem: https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~tf/poem1... Listen to a Paul Kelly version of this as a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Xja... Experiential journeys begin at www.jasminelow.com

LISTEN BY HEART: Stories from the women of the South China Seas

Celebrating International Women's Day 2021 with WORD action! #ChoosetoChallenge #IWD2021 #IWDPoetry

Open call to women of Southeast Asian heritage to submit poetry & short stories to be featured in a podcast. 

From 2003-2012, I was actively writing, performing spoken word poetry and organising poetry & music gigs in the Kuala Lumpur circuit. Together with Jerome Kugan, Sabahan singer songwriter and then editor of a lifestyle magazine KLUE, we formed Wayang Kata in collaboration with the British Council Malaysia and Apples & Snakes UK to showcase performance poetry. Those were great days of unraveling stories from so many interesting layers of society and cultures. 

girlgungho · Jasmine Low does "Spoken Word"

I had an idea back in 2006-2007 to collect and curate stories in the form of poetry, song and short stories for an audio book titled ROOMS. I recorded two original performance poetry pieces I wrote - one was performed at The Actors' Studio Bangsar and the other was a gig - you're listening to a younger me. I collected a few recordings from women writers and poets, but never published it. That idea never left me, it was always there, just waiting for the right time and I think this year may be the right time to bring it alive. 

So in conjunction with International Women's Day this year and their tagline #ChoosetoChallenge for spoken word poets, this one's for all of you ladies! Read more on IWD 2021...

And who has inspired all of this, I suspect? A young lady by the name of Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of Joe Biden as President & Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States of America.

So here goes... This is an open call to women of Southeast Asian heritage, no matter where you're living now. I'd love to hear your stories and if you'd like to be featured on my podcast, LISTEN BY HEART: Voices of the women of the South China Seas, drop me a email at jasminelow@jasminelow.com.  It's my hope and desire to turn this project into an open source archive for women of Southeast Asian heritage to share their stories.

I will get the ball rolling with my own stories, readings of poems and interviews with mum in the first season of the podcast. It'll be an ongoing work-in-progress and you can listen to it here: listenbyheart.webprojx.com.

Thank you and please subscribe to the podcast for updates. 

I'm not loud by nature

I'm not loud by nature

By Jasmine Low

Unpublished / unperformed
Written 12 Jan 2009
Copyright Jasmine Low

Some nights, I wish I was lightning
A startling flash of light, unnerving and unafraid of consequences as I strike

But I'm not so bright

Or, thunder, that offers no compromise in its loud and crashing sounds
as they hit the surface of the black tar road along Jalan Raja Chulan

But I'm not loud by nature

I could dance up the beautiful steel structures of the KLCC
like the sensual winds of the South China Sea

But I’m not so graceful

I think of the Monsoon rain, fierce and unrelenting,
bravely descending upon the city lights at Teluk Chempedak
like how I wish I could stealthily approach you

But I haven't

I could display these attributes the way Mother Nature intended
If I was born during December, the last month of the year
A time of reckoning, madness and forgiveness

But I wasn’t

So I bask in the consistency of the constant rays from the full moon
And instruct it to shine down upon you when you’re asleep

And I call upon dawn to come just as you’re about ready to rouse
And invite the caustic sunrays to seep moisture from your skin
Leaving you thirsty

For me

I am as vast as the ocean
And as faithful as the perpetual rise and fall of the waves beating across the shores,
I place my wishes in a bottle, hoping it’d reach you in the next continent of your mind

But this constant chase between the tides tire you

And we find ourselves inside a chamber that is as dark as the darkest night
To find only each other and nothing else but a faint flicker of our shadows

A glimmer of light from a tiny red light bulb 20 kilometres away
Gather glimpes of my hungry weekends

I sleep a deep slumber
And awake midnight
And chase your light

At the end of your lifetime,
You will realize that there may be a thousand lightning bolts,
A million decibels of thunder
Endless windstorms
would have picked you up in their passionate haste

But there’s only one of me,
And it is my consistency
That earths you
And it is this resonance
That lasts forever

For you.

I'm not loud by nature via anchor.fm/listenbyheart

---

Background

This piece was originally written in 2009, reflecting the author's love affair with her country, a country she left at age 18, sponsored by her maternal uncle Dr. James Cheah to pursue continuing education at Bridigine Convent in Australia. That generous helpful hand, has left an impact in most of Low's work. On an identity fence, Low finds herself returning to that same one point at the confluence of the Gombak and Klang Rivers, pondering life and her identity at the founding of the muddy estuary of Kuala Lumpur. Having spent equally the same amounts of time in each country, which love will she return to?

Plagiarising will give u callouses and bad breath. Copyright 2009 Jasmine Low.