A visual representation of "City" by Louise Ho
LIU Sze Yin
Fanling Kau Yan College
I created this artwork with reference to the poem ‘City’ by Louise Ho. I painted this piece with a series of art media such as ink pens, gel pens and watercolours. I used bright colours for the cityscape to attract the viewers of my art piece so that they will see the city at first glance. Then they may move their eyes to the homeless man perching on the ledge at the bottom right. I drew a fissure which acts like a dividing line between the street sleeper and the prosperous city. Even though I think the mood of the poem is rather pessimistic, I still believe that the poem wants to send us a positive message of love and care. I have painted the homeless man looking at the city with the hope that city dwellers will notice and embrace him one day.
City
No fingers claw at the bronze gauze
Of a Hong Kong December dusk,
Only a maze of criss-crossing feet
That enmeshes the city
In a merciless grid.
Between many lanes
Of traffic, the street-sleeper
Carves out his island home.
Or under the thundering fly-over,
Another makes his own peace of mind.
Under the staircase,
By the public lavatory,
A man entirely unto himself
Lifts his hand
And opens his palm.
His digits
Do not rend the air,
They merely touch
As pain does, effortlessly.
Louise Ho
“City” was published in Incense Tree: Collected Poems of Louise Ho by Louise Ho, p.45. Copyrights © 2009 by Hong Kong University Press.