Then True Love Comes - Spoken Poetry

This is the poem I was talking about in my earlier blogs. It was actually first the lyrics I wrote for a song I composed. That song is in production, still waiting for a good guitarist before I record the vocals. 

Meanwhile, I tried my hand at speaking the poem at the cool "If Walls Could Talk" poetry open mic night (IWCT). I never thought poetry could be so cool. 

Frankly speaking, for years, I always imagined poetry events to be dull and boring, attended only by a much older, conservative crowd, who huddled around sipping tea. So, I remained a closet poet for 20 years, even after getting A's writing poetry as a journalism  & writing student at Western Michigan University. 

But after chancing upon IWCT on facebook, I decided to take a chance and attend its open mic night as I was in the midst of preparing to publish my book. I guess it was about time to check out a poetry event.

It was timely to be introduced to it as I was blown away by the buzzing atmosphere, the gaslight ambience of the Gaslight Cafe, the young and the beautiful piling in wall to wall, chilling on the floor till there was no space to move through. The entire setting was a gem, exactly the little artistic performance place only found in movies, with a fresh, young and youthful, almost-international, colourful, energetic, supportive audience hanging on to every word! I didn't know there was actually an audience in KL which loved poetry, and a young audience at that! 

Here are some pics that were taken during the past few events:

#poetry #thentruelovecomes #publishing #book #poet #poem #author #spokenword #performancepoetry 

Hanging Up My Sword - Spoken Poetry

Have discovered this utterly cool poetry lovin' & spoutin' group in KL, "If Walls Could Talk," in this amazingly dim joint of a place called Gaslight Cafe. It's like artistic heaven. Hahaha.

I challenged myself to do it. What? Yes, after 20 years as a closet poet, I'm finally comin' out, and not only that, I'm declaring to all who will hear (and say what?) that I am publishing A POETRY BOOK. 

So, this was my first attempt to share my writing in public, and also to speak it aloud ( with the minimum-est of performance). The paper is there in case I forget the words...

I found that I kinda enjoyed doing it, even though I wondered if my poetry was good enough for others to understand and like it. 

After all, I'm just giving up excuses NOT to publish THE book. So, judgements aside, the slogan now is "just do it."

#poetry #thentruelovecomes #book #publishing #poet #author #poem #hangingupmysword #performancepoetry #spokenword

Then True Love Comes poem & lyrics

Don’t wancha callin’ me just when you are bored

Don’t wanna wake up with a stranger

‘Cos I’m not built for flings

I’m not your plaything

Don’t wancha hurtin’ me, dear

It’s not a favour

‘Cos I was built for love, no technical specs

But you are welcomed to read instructions

‘Cos you accept the love

You think you deserve

Unconscious intentions

I’m like a boom boom bang bang ba-da-ba boom

A little tete-a-tete rendezvous

It’s either hit or miss

Take a walk or a kiss

Don’t wancha hangin’ around

Making love out of bounds

Turn me upside down and shake me

Take me apart

Brave that you are

Spin my heart around your world but

Handle with care

Love, if you dare

Once before you believed in love

Candyfloss and stars

A world for us

Broken hearts never mend, I hear

So you hide away

Until one day

Qu'est-ce que c'est? 

Is it workin’ and pumpin’ up whatever you want

Hey, are you the one?

I believe what you want is love

No more hidin’ from

Your heart

Let true love come

I believe once your heart makes a dive

Gotta trust in life

C’mon

Let true love come

And then, true love comes

© 2015 Irriesse Chia. All Rights Reserved

The Making of "Then True Love Comes"

This poem, "Then True Love Comes" are the lyrics I put to a song I composed years ago. 

After going around for years asking if anyone could help me write lyrics in Chinese, I decided then that I would just write them myself in English. What the heck! The world is round. 

And now this would also serve as the title of the poetry book I am planning to publish. And while discussing about a title for the book, I told my friend, A, about an episode that happened to me the night before...

I had gone with an associate to meet other friends of his for drinks. So, while chatting and getting acquainted, talking about possible plans, the one opposite of me, someone who was interested in teaming up together for business, B, had asked to see my palm. Well, it was a joyful night, with drinks flowing and endless conversations. I did not hesitate to show my palm to him in carefree impromptuness, without expecting any thunder-or-lightning moments. 

B took a quick look at my palm and promptly declared to my associate that it was alright for him to "follow me." Wow! 

Then, he took my palm again and said this to me: "You must trust, even if trusting in that someone is risky. Then, true love comes." 

Friend A whom I told this story to, jumped at the phrase "then true love comes." He promptly told me, "this is the title of your book."

I also modified the lyrics to my song, which now bears the same title.

I remembered B had repeated it then. "You must trust, even if trusting in that someone is risky. Then, true love comes."  

At first, I questioned his words. What? Trust in someone even if it's risky to? Do you know how many heartbreaks I've had? That makes no sense. You know how fragile our hearts are. And that's even worse in business. 

But after a moment, I began to see the picture. His message meant I had to open my heart and not just close it even before I get involved. Don't just turn away. Trust. Let someone in. 

I knew I had never done that before wholeheartedly. And that meant, I had never let myself know and experience who I am wholeheartedly.

Then True Love Comes

Then True Love Comes, was a title that came unexpectedly. Someone that I had just met took my palm and told me "You must trust in someone even though it is risky to trust in this person, then true love comes." 

That shocked me. This message told me that it was not only about finding that true love in someone else who will come, but it was about not trusting my own heart. And this reveals the deepest truth -- that I did not even open up to my own heart to love myself, so how could anyone else truly love me?

(No, he was not trying to hit on me. That was a gay man who took my palm.)

I have been a student of spiritual and personal development for years. The book that most impacted me years ago, when I was fervently searching for answers after my fiance left me, was Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh. From there I was influenced by spiritual & motivational gurus and authors like Deepak Chopra, Paulo Coelho, Abraham Hicks, Bashar, Louise Hays, Pam Grout, Sonia Choquette, T. Harv Eker, Anthony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar to name a few.  

I graduated from Western Michigan University with a major in Production (Communication) and minor in Journalism. Trained in piano and ballet throughout childhood, I loved the performing arts and was a regular on stage.

For the past 20 years, I worked as a producer director of many entertainment and reality shows, from high-profile Wheel of Fortune to Fear Factor, to beauty pageants, talent competitions, reality shows, gameshows, dramas & tv movies in my home country. 

What Happened To Me

Recently, I suffered through a difficult project resulting not only in loss of money for my company but also in loss of self confidence, and found myself at one of the lowest points of my professional life, without monetary support.

It was then that I came clean with how I felt about my life. My career had not given me satisfaction for years. People know me as a Producer all my career. But I had lost my bliss. And I believe in the universal Law of Attraction which was so apparent in bringing me the negative situations that I kept facing.

I didn't only want to spend days and nights as a behind-the-scenes Producer, a stressful job managing big teams and big budgets, and being relevant only to providing services to the industry. I also wanted to touch the world through my personal experiences, beliefs and through my own creative work. This required me to go back to the rooms of past indulgence and search for bliss that has been shelved away  -- creative writing & music.

Now, with my background as a Producer, how was I going to produce my own life the way I successfully styled and branded my shows? And if our life were a movie, then each of us, surely, is the star of our life movie. How do I be the star of my own life, one who experiences True Love?

The Closet Poet

All my teenage life, from the moment I learnt to read English storybooks, I dreamt to be a writer of novels.

So, harbouring these hopes, I decided to minor in Journalism at Western Michigan University, the only minor I found that had a class in poetry/fiction writing. Yeay, I was now on the way to publishing my novel!

Professor Herb Scott was his name, and the first thing he asked us to write was a poem. A poem? I hate poems. I don’t understand what poems try to say. They are all very vague and abstract, although I did like William Blake’s poems that I had to learn during English Literature while in secondary school.

And he made us write poem after poem, class after class. This was absurd! What could I possibly achieve by writing poems?  When was the fiction writing going to start? And worse of all, I had to read them out in front of all those Americans.

I was a really shy person. Would they laugh at my English? I don’t know how to write poetry. It’s not what I signed up for! But fortunately for me, I do love the English language. It’s the only language I can read and write in fluently.

I thank my mother and my aunts for buying and borrowing me English storybooks in my childhood days. And thanks to some very close classmates who embarrassed me with their very good English, I felt challenged to improve and started borrowing storybooks from them. And I read and read.  Yes, that was what we used to do… We’d hold them under the desk during class. I’d hide storybooks inside school textbooks so that I could fool Mom when she thought I was studying in my bedroom.

But then again, what I did know about writing poetry? I didn’t understand most of the poems I had to read in school. Our teacher had to explain each word and the meaning of each line to us.

Now, back to the Professor. He even had the cheek to keep giving me A’s. What?! Exactly my feelings when I saw those A’s.

At last, we had one chance to write a short story.  But this poetry class tortured me for years, even after I graduated and went on to have a career in television, away from poetry.

Now and then, throughout the past 20 years, I would write a sprinkling of words.

I could not figure out what purpose it had in my life.

Now, many people go to university, but never ending up working in the field of their study.

Not for me. I needed to have a meaning to it. It boggled me for years.

I flirted with the idea of publishing poetry, then held back at the thought of who would buy them, also, friends would give me the stupefied look when I mention that. I thought about it, and shove it away into space. Then I thought about it again.

Coming Soon...

"Then True Love Comes" was the name I decided upon for the book. It reflects the perfect and warm end to a movie -- if our life were a movie, how will it end? As a Producer & Director who intends to make feature films, I had an epiphany to present this poetry book as examples and scenes from my life of:

1. how we are the hero and heroine of our movie

2. responding to your calling

3. the adventure that beckons and the roadblocks that you face

4. then finally, overcome defeat and return with the elixir

It will be truly unique in concept. Instead of another "how to" self-help book, each poem is a scene from my life which you can relate to as a scene in the journey of the heroine throughout the movie. Then, be inspired to ask yourself, what kind of ending do I want for the movie of my life?

Get The Closet Poet Out!