A visual representation of "At the Daipaidong" by Kate Rogers
LONG Hei Tung
Sha Tin Government Secondary School
In my artwork, I used dim and warm colours to show the night time. I also drew some scenes mentioned in the poem including the dream of a boy and perogies doing somersaults.
This poem reminds me of the first time I went to a Daipaidong with my family and the experience of eating Chinese bullfrogs. At first, I found its name and appearance disgusting, but I decided to get over my fear. It was not until I took a small bite of it that I realised it was delicious. This poem also reminds me of the relaxing moments with my family as well as my courage to try new things.
At the Daipaidong1
Noodles bite me back
with garlic and chilli,
singe my palate.
Take that, yearning tongue,
they whisper as they slither by.
Dumplings fold plump hands
in their laps.
At night I dream of pinching shut
the gaping mouths of perogies2,
stuffed not with pork and leek,
but cheese curds and sauerkraut3.
They dive into boiling water
to do somersaults.
Chow fan4 could easily fill cabbage rolls:
Those Holubsti5 my mother made
to line my winter stomach.
Char Siu6 is as sweet
as the crackling on her pork roast.
If she were here she’d say,
Don’t talk with your mouth full.
It isn’t clear what language
You are speaking.
She grips English syllables
carefully between her teeth—
enunciates each morsel of sound.
The instrument I hold by the throat
in Tom Lee’s Music
looks like an Er-hu7,
but could have been a mandolin.
There may be eight tones, or nine.
In Cantonese, words are sung
more than said.
Mother didn’t want me to learn
the language of her childhood.
In Ukrainian my only phrase is,
Ya ne znayu: я не знаю8:
I don’t know.
Kate Rogers
1 a casual street restaurant
2 Ukrainian or Polish dumplings
3 sour fermented cabbage
4 fried rice
5 cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and meat
6 Cantonese roast pork marinated in a sweet sauce
7 a traditional Chinese two-stringed musical instrument
8 Cyrillic script for “I don’t know.”
“At the Daipaidong” was published in Foreign Skin by Kate Rogers, p.27. Copyrights© 2015 by Kate Rogers. Reprinted by permission of the poet.