Turtle Heart

This is Zheng Zeyu's first poetry collection. It consists of six volumes: "Gentle Spell," "Shadows of the City," "Incarnation," "Playing Ghost," "Shrinkage and Traces," and "Going Home."

The poet wrote down his thoughts on publishing the collection of poems:

"And so the turtle could set off, carrying my past, present, and future, extending into various forms with the flow of consciousness. From my own museum, I began my first love poems, then after entering society, I experienced the light and shadow and ups and downs of the city and adulthood. After seeing too much steel and concrete, I wanted to transform into an animal, return and run through the rainforest. After using animals, I wanted to reach a higher supernatural level, continuing to ponder the truth through ghost and god legends. Then I realized that all things are spiritual, and I am just a tiny medium in the vast universe. I retreated deeply into my inner world, conversing with myself and digesting the shadows. Finally, I returned to my hometown, traced my origins, and returned to myself. I realized that even the old can give rise to new ideas. I feel like I have completed a journey home, and can be brave again, feeling the fluidity of life. I also pray that my writing career will be as long and strong as the turtle."

Zheng Zeyu

Born in 1994. Raised in Batu Pahat, Johor. Graduated from the National University of Singapore, currently working in Singapore. Seeking the fluidity between life and poetry. His works have appeared in poetry magazines and newspapers in Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. He has won the Youchuan Short Poetry Award, the Singapore Polytechnic Literature Award, the Taiwan Human Fish Poetry Society Annual Golden Image Award, the Taiwan Poetics Prose Poetry Award, and the Xinhua Youth Literature Award.

Preface to Turtle Heart 8
Old Things 15

Part 1: Gentle Curse Hide and Seek 19
Secret Love 20
Wind Chime 22
Yu Wu 24
Scattered 26
Cross the River 28
Purple Moon 29
Keep Lips——Love is not something that will disappear easily?
Long distance 33
Our Gray 35
Two Gears - Is there love that is not worn out? 37
Influenza 39
Wanderlust 40
Critical Intimacy 42
Ventilation 45

Part 2: Shadow of the City 49
Shell 51
Shadow 53
Negotiation 55
Bridge Woman Difficulty 57
Rainfall Untitled 59
Station Sketch 62
Collage 64
Bathroom 66
Volume - Memory will reside in songs, spreading us out again68
Scratch Kitchen 70
Sprawling Sonnet 72
Moonlight Brew 73
Lying Down and Getting Up 74
Mutual Complaints 76
Worry 78

Part Three: Incarnation Ant 81
White Elephant 83
Survival of the Fittest 85
Encourage 87
Children of the Night——To Owl／Owl89
Purification - Scattering of Birds and Beasts 91
Clouded Leopard 94
Last Dance 97
Prisoner Birds: Remembering the Girls Abducted and Sold to Foreign Lands 100
Find Rabbit 102
Head-up Note 103
12:106
Frog: One Finger Toad 108
Requiem - Double eyelashes are to filter out the radiant light 110
Doraemon 113
Avatar 116
Caught in the Cracks: A Letter to the Stateless Community: The Bajau 121

Part 4: Playing tricks
123 Wooden Man 127
Resurrection 128
Leaf Barrier 130
Totem 132
Not every departure has to arrive at 135
Drifting 3000 137
Plankton, Tumi 140
How to write poetry without feeling or inspiration?
Poetry Gu 144
Anecdotes 146
With Water 149
Filling the sky and the sea 153
Fire Transmission 155
We Are Still God's Instruments157

Volume 5: Shrinkage and Traces: I Don’t Want to Write Poetry 161
Origami 164
Silence is Golden 165
Forgot 167
So-called Wet Man 169
Flow Chamber 170
Transparent Fish 172
Leak 174
Solitary Island 176
I have been constantly showered by fate178
Haircut 179
The Practice of Introverts 181
Downpour 183
People who cross each other's throats - to children who love words. Movie "The Adventures of the Wandering Boat" 186
Chronicle 189
Stealing Light 191
Middle 193
Otherwise195
196
Photosynthesis 198

Volume 6: Homecoming 203
Finding Poetry in Clothes 205
Storage Art - May all wandering things find a place to stay 207
Qingqing210
No Way to Continue——A Rain That Can’t Be Written Well 212
Go Home 214
Old car 219
The yesterday you carved away is tomorrow's cloud - Today, I am still surging in the Batu River.
Futu 225
Translucent 228
Harvest 231
May you smile——To the tiny you 233
236
No Words 238
Zangxin Pavilion 240
Temple 242

Turtle Heart 245