My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

This is a Quatrain. It gives the reader the "heck care" type of attitude, showing that he was not really interested in the badge or its meaning.

.At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

This is a couplet and also an example of personification. It is as if the black crows are purposely being rude by squawking loudly when the national anthem is being played


It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays

This is a tercet. It is a three line stanza. He is complaining about how hard it is to keep his shoes clean, especially on Wednesdays, where most probably he is involved in some physical activities, such as PE or CCA.

I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

From the way he describes it, it is almost as if the author is jealous of the scouts. Perhaps he does not have the physical requirements to join scouts.

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another

Here, the author is trying to imply that his family does not have a chauffeur, though he does not sound envious of them. I feel that this a rather factual view and the writer remembers this because there were a lot of chauffeurs after school.

Seven to the power of five is unreasonable

This single sentence shows the author's disdain for maths, and maybe even now, as he said that seven to the power of five "IS" unreasonable.

On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

In my pinion, the author meant this as a joke, to think that a Chinese Mrs Lee would actually dress in a Malay costume and sing a malay song ON CHINESE NEW YEAR.

The capital of Singapore is Singapore

Well, this confirms that they were in early Singapore.

My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’for his
Chinese Language Multiple-choice paper

Maybe, when the both of them were still young that would seem like a heroic thing to do but i feel that the tone the author is using now is probably a sarcastic one

In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed

Here, i feel that the author is not in a wheel chair, but pushing another person's wheelchair. And when he said "They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed", i think that there is no second meaning and the author is just trying to say "Drat my luck"