Reaction to "Singapore" by Mary Oliver

in the Norton: pg. 911

Setting the poem in the Singapore airport gives it a gritty tone. The very worldly singapore is a well known sight of drug trades, prostitution, and an overall lack of hygiene and safety. Saying that "a darkness was ripped from my eyes" (2), meaning that she has learned or realized something and seen the light, in a Singapore airport is quite significant because she could have seen any number of things she'd never been exposed to in ohio or upstate new york (http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/O/OliverMary/index.htm)

The speaker didn't particularly like the setting or the situation she was in, "disgust argued my stomach"(5), and switches settings briefly in her mind , thinking that "a person wants to stand in a happy place, in a poem" (12), as she describes beautiful unspoiled nature.

The meaning of the entire poem is given at the end, saying "the light that can shine out of a life" (29), like the woman she saw there, can be just as beautiful and happy as the trees and birds she was describing earlier.