A visual representation of "City" by Louise Ho
LAM Cheuk Hei
Shung Tak Catholic English College
In this painting, I want to present the situation of street sleepers in Hong Kong.
Just like what the poem says, the problem of street sleepers in Hong Kong
is serious and neglected. I want to show that in a prosperous city like Hong Kong,
some people are still very poor. They need to sleep in the street, under a bridge.
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.