My pulse is made of the Earth
Singapore
2025, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
They say the land is just beneath the city,
buried under concrete, sleeping in silence.
But I can still hear it breathe-
in the cracks of pavement, in the steam from manholes,
in the roots that twist beneath forgotten sidewalks.
My grandmother told me,
“We come from soil, not screens.”
She taught me to taste the wind like water,
to read the wrinkles of a leaf
like scripture.
I carry her in my spine
as I walk past blinking billboards,
picking trash from gutters with fingers
that remember harvesting rice.
I am nature in rebellion-
a girl planting sunflowers beside a bus stop,
watering weeds in the rain,
daring joy in poisoned air.
They build up, I dig down.
They forget, I remember-
that healing begins with our lungs
and the lungs of the world
breathe in green.
I don’t need to disappear into forests
to find my wild.
It’s in the small things,
mud under my nails,
a worm wriggling back to life,
the slow unfurling of who I am
when I’m not being watched.
This is not escape.
This is return.
To earth.
To breath.
To self.
Reflection
The idea for my poem “My Pulse is Made of Earth” came from noticing how disconnected urban life can make us feel from nature and yet how nature always finds a way to reach us. I started thinking about the small, quiet ways we stay connected to nature, even in the most artificial spaces. That thought that nature isn’t just in forests or oceans, but inside us and around us, even in the city. My grandmother was a major inspiration. Her stories about living close to the land reminded me that generational knowledge shapes how we see nature. I combined that with my personal experiences growing up in a city, planting small gardens in balconies, walking in local parks, and noticing moss growing between sidewalk cracks. Through this contest, I’ve learned that nature doesn’t ask for perfection but for presence. Whether we’re restoring the planet or simply listening to birdsong, we reconnect with a part of ourselves. My message to viewers is that you are not separate from nature. Even in a concrete jungle, you carry the earth with you. Healing begins when we remember that and let that memory move us to care, act, and hope.