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
Hill Road Flyover
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
Another Year
‘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
Geisha
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
Dark Dance
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
Bizarre Theatre
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
A Tokyo Queue
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
Taguchi House
XXXXXXXXTatami mat XXXXXXXXSix feet by three XXXXThe length and breadth of a body XXXXBuilding block of the residence XXXXOn which the residents recline XXXXUnit of its composition Rationalisation of construction Three-hundred years before modernism XXXXPossibilities infinite XXXXBy their arrangement limited XXXXAt each change of scale remaining XXXXProportionate to the building XXXXXXXXEight to a room XXXXXXXXWarp, … Continue reading Taguchi House
Sunrise Mountain Walk
Snow falls from the trees White roofs of the town below This winter temple — Takayama, December 2024 • • • • • Our guide on this, our first visit to Japan, was Roland Barthes’ Empire of Signs (1970), which I had first read many years before, but had left little impression on me at … Continue reading Sunrise Mountain Walk
The Philosopher’s Path
An autumn leaf Falls from a tree To the moss floor Of the forest Red stars glinting In a green sky Heap of colour Which two women Wielding twig brooms Will sweep away. — Kyoto, December 2024 • • • • • The Philosopher’s Path (哲学の道) runs along the foot of the Higashiyama (‘Sunrise Mountain’) … Continue reading The Philosopher’s Path
Simon Elmer 