Letter to My Partner , livre ebook

Marshall Cavendish International - Felix Cheong

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91 pages

English

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In the last volume of our Letter series, we invited 18 contributors to write to their partners.These heartfelt words are at once a celebration of romance and that first flush of love. Perhaps what needs to be said, things to be thankful for, but they've never had the chance to do so.Perhaps hurts they had inflicted over time on their partners, but never made amends for; such matters left unresolved eventually become a thorn in the relationship. These private words, publicly uttered, reflect on how marriage is not always the happily-ever-after movies portray it, but a coming-to-terms with differences and distances, trauma and pain.Contributors include: Jon Gresham, Donna Tang, Hamish Brown, Ning Cai, Marc Nair, Baskaran Narayanan, Nuraliah Norasid, Anisa Hassan, Tara Dhar Hasnain, Laila Jaey, Shirlene Noordin, Md Sharif Uddin, Hernie Mamat, Fann Sim, Shirley Kwan, Amy Chia, Paul Rozario-Falcone, Adib JalalThe EditorFelix Cheong is the author of 21 books across genres, from poetry to fiction, from children's picture books to non-fiction. His works have been widely anthologised and nominated for the prestigious Frank O'Connor Award and the Singapore Literature Prize. Conferred the Young Artist Award in 2000 by the National Arts Council, he holds a master's in creative writing and is currently an adjunct lecturer with the National University of Singapore, Murdoch University, University of Newcastle, and Curtin University.

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Publié par	Marshall Cavendish International
Date de parution	20 janvier 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789815009941
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0550€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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From cosy family delights to long, lonely, soul-searching nights, from fragmented existences to rebuilding life anew as a couple or bravely solo, the letters are a tapestry of what is most integral to the soul - the necessity to belong, to a person, a family created or reconstructed, a city, oneself - and to carry forward the sacred gift of memory with grace and compassion.
- Pallavi Narayan, PhD
Co-editor of Singapore at Home: Life across Lines
and author of Pamuk s Istanbul: The Self and the City
Heartfelt love letters that will resonate, whether you re still on that universal quest for a soulmate, or your life has already been made almost complete.
- Koh Buck Song
Author, poet and brand adviser
The collection tells the inner feelings of these amazing individuals who have experienced love, romance, heartbreak, loss, and grief. Letter to My Partner feels like taking a glimpse inside someone s heart - so intimate, raw and relatable. An inspiring read that would make you smile and cry, and a reminder that while your love story may take you to places you ve never expected, in the end, we re all the better because of it.
- Violet Lim
CEO Co-Founder, Lunch Actually

Text individual contributors as credited in each work
2022 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited
Published in 2022 by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International

All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: (65) 6213 9300 E-mail: genref@sg.marshallcavendish.com Website: www.marshallcavendish.com
The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Marshall Cavendish is a registered trademark of Times Publishing Limited
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Name(s): Cheong, Felix, editor.
Title: Letter to my partner : words of love and perspectives of marriage / edited by Felix Cheong.
Description: Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2022.
Identifier(s): e-ISBN: 978 981 5009 94 1
Subject(s): LCSH: Spouses--Correspondence. | Marriage. | Love.
Classification: DDC 306.872--dc23
Printed in Singapore
Cover design by Adithi Khandadai
Contents
Foreword
F ELIX C HEONG
An Escalator Instead of a Lift
J ON G RESHAM
Getting to Know You
D ONNA T ANG
Far, Far Beyond the Stars
H AMISH B ROWN
A Letter to My Angel aka (I Don t Say) Thank You (Enough)
N ING C AI
A Letter in Seven Scenes
M ARC N AIR
Which Came First - Love or Marriage?
B ASKARAN N ARAYANAN
Our Home on Quiet Avenue
N URALIAH N ORASID
Creating Our Love Map and Coming Full Circle
A NISA H ASSAN
Co-conspirators in Life s Jig
T ARA D HAR H ASNAIN
Dear You. Here goes.
L AILA J AEY
We Will Always Find Our Way Back to Each Other
S HIRLENE N OORDIN
This Pain of Living in Exile
MD S HARIF U DDIN
Tacit in the Air
H ERNIE M AMAT
Love Where We Live
F ANN S IM
Pre-Destined
A NN L I
I Am My Own Woman
A MY C HIA
When Lovers Die (II)
P AUL R OZARIO -F ALCONE
The Letter You Will Never Read
A DIB J ALAL

Foreword
Felix Cheong
What is hardest to talk about is always what is up close and too personal. There is too much at stake, too little to gain from candour. Not forgetting you would need distance and time apart for a sense of perspective.
Which is why Letter to My Partner , the fifth in our Letter series, has been the most challenging for me as editor. For the previous three volumes ( Son, Mother and Father ), almost every contributor I had approached had agreed readily. Words were forthcoming when written at arm s length, when the pen did not need to dip - or perhaps stab - deep into the heart.
For this anthology, I had contacted more than 40 people. One after another, they declined: It is too painful, too shameful, they told me. There are things my partner does not want me to reveal. There are things about me I do not want my partner to know.
Of course, I understood. I myself would have hesitated to commit private words to such a public letter. It would have taken courage - and much handwringing - to talk about my previous marriage, the spouse I had once failed. It would have taken courage - and much beating of the breast - to talk to my current spouse, of the times I had failed her.

Which is why these 18 brave souls who eventually agreed to contribute a letter to their partner (former or current) must be applauded for their heartfelt words, often confessional and still so raw they hurt.
Theirs is a measure of bonds forged over trying circumstances, of relationships long at rest or still in motion. Theirs is a sizing up of love in all its phases, from first flush to last gasp, through the years of giving-ins and misgivings, and all the pit-stops in-between that start and stall.
Here is what needs to be said, and I do hope you will be inspired to write to your partner after reading their letters.

FELIX CHEONG is the author of 21 books, including six volumes of poetry, a trilogy of satirical flash fiction and seven children s picture books. His works have been nominated for the prestigious Frank O Connor Award and the Singapore Literature Prize. His latest work is Sprawl , a graphic novel in collaboration with Malaysian artist Arif Rafhan.
Conferred the Young Artist Award in 2000, Felix holds a Masters in Creative Writing and is currently a university adjunct lecturer with the National University of Singapore, University of Newcastle, Murdoch University and Curtin University.
An Escalator Instead of a Lift
Jon Gresham
Dear Darling,
What if I had caught the lift instead of the escalator?
I was never looking for a wife. I did not want a wife. At that time, I just wanted the world s greatest corporate restructuring plan to succeed.
During the early years of the 21st century, I was in Jakarta trying to persuade the Indonesian press, the government and businesses that corporate restructuring was the best thing since nasi goreng .
I did this by taking influencers up four escalators to a bento set lunch every Monday for a couple of months at Plaza Senayan, a high-end shopping mall in Central Jakarta. At the restaurant on the top floor, I chatted with editors, ministerial advisors and bankers about the traffic, global politics and the restructuring. Those were tense days, tainted by America s lust for war in Iraq, the horror of the recent Bali bombings, and the fear a similar carnage would occur in Jakarta.
On my first bento lunch as I rode the escalator to the third floor, I spotted you in a perfume shop, with your hair up, stacking the shelves with little white boxes of Chanel No 5. From a distance, we made eye contact and smiled at the same time. In my diary, I wrote: Creditors getting screwed on restructuring. Grinned at girl in perfume shop. Black dress. Slim. Wide smile. Funny. Bought Hugo Boss Dark Blue. Stank. Listened to The Jam s Monday on iPod over and over again.
I bought T-shirts from the shop next door, ties and shirts from the tailor opposite. It took me about 12 rides on the escalator before I found the courage to enter the perfume shop and speak to you. After that first visit, I returned the next week and purchased a bottle of Drakkar Noir. The following week, Fahrenheit. The week after that, L Eau D Issey, Guerlain, and Elizabeth Taylor s Passion. You thought they were for a wife I never had. You thought I was some married guy wanting to have a bit on the side. I gave these bottles of perfume to my mother and sister.
I asked you out and we drank orange juice in the food court. You liked Westlife, A-ha, Michael Learns to Rock, Friends , Tiffany s, Audrey Hepburn and Scooby Doo. You thought I had a wife and kids. The only family I had, in fact, was a folder full of spreadsheets and legal agreements.
A month later, we went on our first date. We watched one of the worst movies I have ever seen: The Core - about a team of scientists drilling to the centre of the earth to save the human race. We had to be chaperoned, so you brought along seven friends.
At that time, you were so thin I thought you were ill. When I first tried to hold your hand, I could have held your wrist in a circle made between the tips of my trigger finger and thumb. Like making an okay sign to feel your pulse. Your softness.
We connected, though we came from different worlds. To get to work, you had to take multiple bus trips from your kampung, off Jalan Mohammed Kahfi, across Jakarta - that usually took two-and-a-half hours or more. For me, it took just an hour for my driver to take me in a limo from the Shangri-La Hotel to World Trade Centre on Sudirman.
My work in Jakarta soon ended and I returned to the desolate streets of Singapore in the grip of SARS. We lost contact - it was just too hard to stay in touch. Several months later, I was surprised to receive your text. You cracked a joke about brushing your teeth. I cannot remember the