There’s a mesmeric beauty about Madeleine Lee’s poetry which I always found intoxicating. You get lost in her inner world as she itemises the things she sees, seemingly innocuously; the beauty behind her verses unravels slowly. It’s like watching bricks slowly stacking, and realising late on the resulting monolith.
You can see it in blue from her 2008 collection synaesthesia: at eleven the driver gave me two budgies/one turquoise blue the other bright green/granny came to plead for their release/without luck. later that night under covers/i heard a cage door creak and saw them fly/shooting stars in the smudged night
She’s a master of mise-en-scene, not quite the way an auteur might build it, but with a deliberate cadence of words.
In an age when poetry is celebrated for its sensationalism rather than its subtleties, when bite-sized pseudo-poems on Instagram often gets mistaken for a poet’s artistry, there is a dire need to give poets the platform they deserve. Raffles Hotel did this when they named Madeleine Lee as their first Singaporean writer and poet for their Writer’s Residency programme. She is the third writer to grace the Residency, after British author Pico Iyer and New Zealander travel journalist Vicki Virtue.
Madeleine’s literary career has spanned two decades, beginning with her first published collection, A Single Headlamp, back in 2003. Like most Singaporean poets, she has had to develop her literary pursuits on top of her day job: Madeleine was an investment manager who served as treasurer of the United Nations Development Fund for Women and president of the Raffles Girls School Alumni, and has sat on multiple boards.
The year-long residency provided the inspiration for a new slate of poetry, all of which can be found in the culmination of Madeleine’s Residency: a new collection titled how to build a lux hotel.
“The Raffles Writer’s Residency programme is a significant part of the hotel’s legacy, and part of an enduring literary tradition unique to us that we are proud to continue. Madeleine’s appointment cements our commitment to supporting the written word and nurturing local talent in Singapore, and with the vision to provide a space conducive to inking new literary works. Beyond this, the launch of Palm Terrace by Writers Bar is part of our work to continuously reimagine a space that rests between an idyllic, timeless oasis and a contemporary luxury hotel for Raffles guests old and new,” said Christian Westbeld, Managing Director at Raffles Hotel Singapore.
At the launch of how to build a lux hotel in Raffles Hotel’s famed Writers Bar, we caught up with Madeleine in a gorgeous lounge outside the Raffles Hotel suites, overlooking the verdant Raffles Courtyard, to talk to her about her experiences during the Residency and her new collection.
Madeleine started young. The Economics graduate recalled, “I’ve written English poems – largely English poems since I was young. I published my first poem at 14.” But she wasn’t immediately a poet per se. “At that age,” Madeleine explained, “you don’t think anybody wants to read your poems. But in my early adulthood, I joined a women’s writing circle, where we were encouraged to read to each other what we wrote. And I remember (local author and Singapore Literature Prize laureate) Suchen Christine Lim asking, ‘Can I see all of your work?'”
With the support of an National Arts Council grant, Suchen would be her mentor in her developing years as a poet. “It wasn’t an obvious mentorship, because Suchen is a historical novelist and I’m a poet. But she was the one who convinced me to put my work out there. She said, ‘Unless you put it out there, you won’t know where you are in your writing.'” Suchen’s words had a profound effect on Madeleine, and before long, her first collection, A Single Headlamp, was published in 2003.
She has since published eight more poetry collections before how to build a lux hotel. It is rather apt that Madeleine was chosen for the Writers Residency. She said, “Raffles Hotel Singapore holds an air of old-world charm and modernity all in one, inspiring many. Being the first Singaporean writer-in-residence for Raffles Hotel Singapore was, at first, daunting to say the least. But very soon after, I found immense pleasure in being both a quiet observer of, and participant in, the hotel’s everyday activities. It is these observations I try to put into words to capture the very soul of the hotel.”
And observed she did. Madeleine discovered some little known facts about the hotel, such as the fact that the Brash Basah wing (facing Raffles City Shopping Centre) used to house the hotel stables – a fact commemorated by a plaque located on the second floor. She made this discovery early in her residency. “When people asked about the residency, I would tell them, ‘First, they put me with the horses.’,” she joked.
“My first stay at the hotel as part of the residence was in October last year,” Madeleine explained. “I stayed intermittently in different rooms until May this year.” She spent this time wandering the storied halls of Raffles Hotel (including the aforementioned Bras Basah wing), speaking to its staff and clientele, taking in architecture and the unique forms that visually define what is perhaps our nation’s most iconic hotel.
Without spoiling the contents of the book, it must be said that she captured the spirit of her experiences so succinctly and evocatively in how to build a lux hotel.
In celebration of the the hotel’s rich history of association with literary figures, Writers Bar Beverage Manager Nicholas Alexander refreshed the menu, introducing cocktails inspired by literature, as well as a riveting selection of five handcrafted cocktails (S$35 each) specially inspired by how to build a lux hotel. In conjunction with these launches, Writers Bar expands its space to include Palm Terrace by Writers Bar, an alfresco space situated at the eastern portico, adjacent to Writers Bar and amidst verdant palm trees at Palm Court.
With the release of a landmark book, what’s next? “I’m always writing,” said Madeleine. “I’m a slave to writing. It’s like tennis, you know? You need to keep practising.”
‘How to Build a Lux Hotel’ is also now available for purchase online and in-store at Raffles Boutique for S$35.
