A visual representation of "City" by Louise Ho
FU Wai Yan
Sha Tin Government Secondary School
I chose Louise Ho’s poem “City” and created this artwork with acrylic and markers.
I used the form and style of comics to present my idea.
The first few grids on top of my artwork are based on the line
“the bronze gauze of a Hong Kong December dusk” and the man who opens his palm in the poem.
The bottom part portrays the “lanes of traffic”,
“a maze of criss-crossing feet” and “the street-sleeper with his island home and the public lavatory”.
The man on the right is an image without colours,
which may be seen as the street-sleeper or the man entirely unto himself in the poem.
I try to present a snapshot of Mongkok, which is set as the scene in my artwork.
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.