And this too, is a love letter to our city.
This too is how we dream about who we are becoming.
This is how we give our hopes flight
so that they may sing of a time before ours
but also teach us new songs of our own.

Not all those who wonder are lost.
What if we see possibility in an old stairwell,
laughter in abandoned halls
community in empty corridors?

This too, is how we return to each other and to ourselves,
how we remember where we have come from,
as we pave roads for where we need to go.

Our tomorrows are built from our yesterdays.
In this city where we make and rest and eat,
where we laugh, and explore and believe.
Come. Stop a while. Be at home.

This too is how we unfold into our vastness,
our courage, our fierce light, our voice.
How loud, how fearless & how bold -
to see the future
in the beauty
these old bones hold.

Pooja Nansi is an award-winning poet, performer, and educator known for her impact on literature, performance, and cultural leadership. She is the author of three poetry collections. A Young Artist Award (2016) recipient and Singapore’s inaugural Youth Poet Ambassador, she currently teaches at Nanyang Technological University and is Chief Publisher at AFTERIMAGE Press. Her acclaimed performance work includes You Are Here (Wild Rice, 2021) and Thick Beats for Good Girls (Checkpoint Theatre, 2018). As the first woman and youngest Festival Director of the Singapore Writers Festival (2019–2023), she redefined the event’s inclusivity and reach. In 2024, she was awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of France’s top cultural honours.

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