(Love Song, With Two Goldfish)

Singaporean journalist and poet Grace Chua invites readers to consider some fundamental questions about love and relationships with her poem, “(love song, with two goldfish).” First published in Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Vol. 2, No. 2 in January 2003, the poem charts the decline of a relationship between a male and a female goldfish who live in a fishbowl. In the poem, Chua raises questions about love and romance, questioning why we express romantic interest in others and drawing attention to the ways we express such feelings.

Poet Biography

Singaporean writer Grace Chua was born in 1984. She earned a dual degree in English Literature and Psychology from Dartmouth College in 2007 and a Masters in Science Writing from MIT in 2008. In her writing, she often makes scientific and technical information accessible for non-expert readers.

Chua currently works as the Content Director for Kite Insights, a research & communications company dedicated to helping businesses make ethical choices. She previously worked as the environment and science correspondent for Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times.

Her first poetry collection, The Stamp Collector’s Wife, premiered in 2010. As well, her works appears in The Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, the From Boys to Men anthology, MĀNOA: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, Junoesq, and SOFTBLOW.