Analysis of the poetry

My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

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The first stanza tells us about his school badge which has a Latin motto. It symbolizes “Hope for the future”. The future is hope or maybe something else. In this stanza, the poet is writing about his school badge and what it symbolizes.

At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
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This stanza tells us that when the school was singing the National Anthem, “black crows” tried to interrupt. In this case, the black crows may refer to the mischievous children fooling around.
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays

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This tells us that the child’s shoes were hard to maintain it clean on Wednesdays. I can tell that they were having Physical Education that day. He would be on a field with dirty mud stained on his shoes.

I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts
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The poet is amazed by the bare and muscular thighs of the diligent scouts.

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another
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The poet’s schoolmates were all from a wealthy family. Their parents hired Malay chauffeurs to ferry them from home to school, and vice versa.

Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
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The poet doesn’t really like Math at all.

On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo
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This is such an irony. It was Chinese New Year and Mrs Lee, a Chinese teacher wore a sarong kebaya and sang Bengawan Solo. Sarong Kebaya is a traditional Malay costume ad Bengawan Solo is a traditional Malay Song. A Chinese teacher wearing Sarong Kebaya and singing a Malay traditional song during Chinese New Year.  The teacher doesn’t seem to know anything about religions and cultures.

The capital of Singapore is Singapore
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The poet has some understanding of Singapore

My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s

For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper
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This is not counted as heroic. His best friend may be weak in Chinese. As a result, he resorted to guessing with his luck.
In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me

Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment

When my eyes were actually closed
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The poet was helping a disabled when someone took a picture of him. Coincidentally, the poet’s eyes were closed at that moment.