Category: Poems

If someone would poke out the eyes of the hawks we sparrows could dance wherever we please! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx— Han-Shan The Filipino mother whose children Live with their father in the Philippines, Walks the Chinese child through Hong Kong’s streets, The bag of her employer’s dirty laundry Carried in one hand, in the other The hand … Continue reading The Market Place

My native English, now I must forgo — William Shakespeare For home is wherever you are, my love, And where you are is where I want to be, Not in that Kingdom or this Republic, Even here, on the far side of the world To the land from which you and I were made, On … Continue reading This Must Be the Place

Nowhere have I encountered such a dull, monotonous fabric of life as here. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX— Henry Miller Long before the sun has risen Behind the International Finance Centre, In the formal ‘Sitting-out Area’ Of the Western District Community Centre, From the only tree that grows on Third Street An Asian cuckoo cries its mating call Through … Continue reading The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

Ghost man, I haunt these sweating streets Invisible to the Cantonese, Extras in Hong Kong’s zombie-flick Addicted to their smartphone screens. Capacitative touchscreen glass Is the only contact they will risk, While synthetic girls walk unseen By the liquid-crystal junkies. Eros in a medical mask, Drained of desire, surrogate of lust. Pixelated sterile orchid That … Continue reading Gweilo

The Hill Road flyover in Shek Tong Sui was completed in 1981. True to the architectural principles of the Swiss architect, Le Corbusier, the flyover lifts the traffic off the road and into the air, freeing the former up for the pedestrians, which include the numerous schoolchildren in this neighbourhood. The columns are masterpieces of … Continue reading Hill Road Flyover

‘My body is dying, but my brain is still good.’ How should a man meet his death, but with terror and equanimity? Tell us now the story of the Sixth Age of Man: The age of his regrets, lived more in the past than the future; The age of his decline, when the blood in … Continue reading Another Year

One can only visit Kyoto for the first time xxxxxxxxOnce in a lifetime xxxxAnd we are virgins in the hands xxxxOf a Japanese courtesan. Near the canal, in a tempura restaurant, xxxxOur pleasure is so apparent xxxxThe chef, a master of his art, xxxxxxxxVisits our table. And the barman who serves me Japanese whisky xxxxxxxxIn … Continue reading Geisha

Impulse, instinct, memory or my will Flexes the muscle that contracts the tendon That pulls together two bones in my skeleton: And so I move, slowly, out of this space Into another. And as if risen From ashen death, faces whitened, heads shaven, Lipstick of blood at the corners of their eyes, Clothed in the … Continue reading Dark Dance

Strange behaviour Two men playing at romance But what artistry! — Tokyo, January 2025 • • • • • The etymology of kabuki is contested. Some say its three characters, ka-歌 (‘song’), bu-舞 (‘dance’) and ki-伎 (‘skill’), indicate the composite character of an art that contains elements of music, dance and drama that would usually … Continue reading Bizarre Theatre

Restaurant or shrine Not a sign the place is full But how you should queue — Tokyo, January 2025 • • • • • The queue in Tokyo, whether at a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine, outside a restaurant or shop, into a museum or through an airport security check, and which can stretch for … Continue reading A Tokyo Queue