Lamma Island

Poems from Hong Kong

Domestic Helper

Domestic Helper for Clara Hendrawati Night after night she has woken alone and watched the luminous hands crawling to an empty morning. She wonders what she did, or failed to do, what sin it was that brought her here to servitude

Black Kite

Black Kite I look up, startled by that familiar keening whistle of a kite, soaring over Po Wah Yuen, watch the bird tilt and slide away over the village. Like scents, so sounds always stay in the memory,
Cherry

Evening Ferry

Evening Ferry I watch her board, my black-haired girl, leaving me once more for the family that is not hers, but swallows her youth in their service. When she leaves me

In the dark on the end of the line

In the dark on the end of the line my woman is softly sobbing, like a child lost alone in darkness, wounded and comfortless. I have cut her with my casual anger and cannot withdraw the words,