Whither Hong Kong? / September 2014 (Issue 25)


Pawns

by Emily Cheung

blue or yellow
people’s or apple
mother or son
689 or none
obedience or defiance
law or justice
puppet or passion
noble or naive
prosperity or equality
quasi- or full
pseudo or genuine
persistence or stubborn
reality or lennon
tear gas or umbrella
hope or doom
intervention or solidarity
mongkok or admiralty
revolution or movement
graffiti or detergent
radical or rational
rational or ethical
conviction or carnival
leadership or anarchy
staying or leaving
black or white

not either or
but neither nor
stagnant, shrill, and separate
because pawns cannot move backwards

the pawns thought they are the one and only
they are trapped in the king’s deity
 
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