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Cheng Him’s explosive debut poetry collection is a narrative-in-poems exploring the inner psyche of the mythical Singaporean Ah Seng, made prismatic through the lens of Buddhism and mid-2010s clubbing fervour.
From the tumultuous days of his childhood to the wayward hurricane of his youth, Boh Beh Zhao charts the trajectory of someone wandering through life as though it has no beginning or conceivable end, and plots his eventual landing into the barren fields of the latter. Bold and unflinching, this collection invites readers to follow Ah Seng’s chaotic journey and confront the question: what does it mean to live life so fast that all else seems to stand still?
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“Walao eh! I finally can understand poetry, minus the usual “roses are red” blah blah blah. Not only do I understand Cheng Him’s poetry but I am captivated by Ah Seng’s journey. It is written as it should be—in Singlish. Nothing else would have come close. I have always been an advocate of Singlish as our identity, as what makes us unique in the world map, and as the vital ingredient of Racial Harmony. And now to see it in this form is nothing short of brilliant. It’s both serious and funny and that’s Singlish in a nutshell for you. Cheng Him—well done and when I grow up, I wanna be like you. My alter ego would even say, “Wah not say I wan to say but I say ah, you best in Singapore and .... er. and.... Aiyah Singapore can already la don’t be gleedy!””
—Gurmit Singh, actor, comedian and host
“Boh Beh Zhao is a heartland ballad and a breathtaking journey from an utterly original and urgently-needed voice in Sing Lit. Cheng Him is a modern-day weaver of fables, gifted with the ability to find the transcendental in the everyday. The poetry in this collection captures the music, brevity, deadpan emotional intensity and quiet dignity of Singlish to create devastating stories inhabited by beautifully flawed characters just trying their best. There is no room for sentimentality here—just one emotional gut punch after another.”
—Stephanie “Dogfoot” Chan, poet and multidisciplinary artist
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Cheng Him (b. 1995) is from Singapore. Their work has previously been published in Strange Horizons, the Willows Wept Review, the Kindling, the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, and the Neuro Logical, amongst a number of other publications.
By a stroke of divine providence, Cheng Him was awarded an honourable mention in English Poetry for the 2023 Golden Point Award. Sadly, attempts to buy 4D and TOTO using numbers found at the award ceremony did not yield any substantial rewards.
Cheng Him is descended from Cantonese, Hainanese and Hakka migrants, from sailors, property agents, provision store proprietors at Bras Basah, and herb-drying medicine makers from Choa Chu Kang. They are nominally a Budhhist with sprinklings of Taoism, and also a graduate of Singapore Polytechnic and Yio Chu Kang Secondary School.
