Postscripts from a City Burning
By Sam Cheuk
Palimpsest Press, Windsor, Ontario
ISBN 978-1-989287-81-1
Reviewed by Kate Rogers
As authoritarianism spreads with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine it would be too easy to forget about human rights issues in China and … more »
Hong Kong
for my grandparents
arriving as a ship is prone to do,
in and out of Victoria Harbour, they
stayed: he learning to count the
freight, longhand neat in each
diary sheet, she presiding
over glass counters, jewels glinting… more »
This is how it may start to end,
round of applause for the chief exec
to exit, quaintly hugging
in a photo op her family,
handshake, flowers.
There is no such easy exit tho,
one side wants blood,
the other … more »
Don’t call them dogs.
Protest is merely a sound
for ears that must stay deaf
for those who feed above.
They are more bothersome,
just as you are bothersome
as a roach, they are people
who have reasons of their … more »
The graduation ceremony
had to end early, the chancellor
left with guards. Students
held signs in black gowns, saying,
“You can’t kill us all.”
How do we live up to that?
Inaudible, the sound of choice
midst human traffic.
These … more »
Or so the collective chant goes,
but no, ideas are not bulletproof,
they can be usefully forgotten.
What did you do a month ago?
Truth is, I want you to be safe,
want you to sleep so I can sleep.… more »
I am the only boy in the neighbourhood to have a wooden duckie. This yellow duckie quacks and rolls when I pull it along on a long string.
Boys and girls everywhere come and look at my yellow toy. They … more »
Ash is Purest White (Jia Zhangke, China/France 2018)
Since his mid-career lane switch in 2013, Jia Zhangke has ditched the sluggish arthouse gloom that made him a brand in favour of speedier genre exploits to stay relevant. Still intact are … more »
The laundry draped above me. The wires crossed the gap between one building and the next in the starless night. Air conditioning units sat fuming on sills, and my arms swam through the muggy air at every step, laden with … more »
The humidity of the weather made everything a dream. Within a week, how had I come from being a minimum-wage waiter in Canada, to being a teacher in Hong Kong with a paid apartment; generous salary and benefits; and given … more »