Fruits Poem | By Goh Poh Seng

This is where Goh the physician emerges. He knows that every pleasure carries a metabolic cost. The fruit, once a symbol of life, becomes a symbol of decay. A ripe fruit is merely a seed’s way of bribing an animal to carry it toward death. Eat, and you participate in a cycle of rot. Refrain, and you deny your own nature.

But its legacy is more intimate. For the diaspora—Malaysians and Singaporeans living abroad—reading this poem is a form of return. A line about duku-langsat can trigger a Proustian memory of a grandmother’s kitchen, a humid afternoon, the sticky juice on a child’s chin. fruits poem by goh poh seng

: Growth is not instantaneous but achieved through "successive seasons" and "through the year." This highlights a theme of This is where Goh the physician emerges

By focusing on indigenous fruits rather than imported ones (like apples or grapes), Goh anchors the poem in a post-colonial identity. He celebrates what is "ours," asserting that the local landscape is worthy of high art. A ripe fruit is merely a seed’s way

: Analysts describe the work as a blend of uncomplicated language and sophisticated thematic depth, typical of Goh's lyrical style. Context in Goh’s Work