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by Jason S Polley
I have this friend
Former friend
Actually
Now
Actually actually is one of my favourite Hong Kong words
Kei sat
Kei sat as step back
A rhetorical revising
On second thought
Yes
For real
Honesty actually is instantly forthcoming
ASAP
For real
Kei sat
Actually actually is as emblematic of Hong Kong as are its umbrellas
Show
Actually show
Don't merely tell
Umbrellas in the sun
Umbrellas in the rain
Umbrellas in the shade
Actually
For real
Look
See the sea
Look look
See
Umbrellas at dusk
Umbrellas at dawn
Umbrellas in shade
Umbrellas in the hands of
Umbrellas in the face of
Umbrellas on the cover of
Of
For
Against
In defense
Let's actually return to the reason
The reason for the friendship forsaken
pihsdneirf nekasrof eht rof nosaer ehT
Here are the keywords to our
Our
The friends forsook
Aken
Aching
Final final words
Hong Kong and CY Leung
Cantonese and overseas
Museum and requiem
But
Actually
Requiem is evoked not be
Spoke like this actually did she
Hong Kong for me
(A five-year resident of the place
Of
Of this special administrative region
Is she)
Is not special
Though
Actually
I could only ever live in Hong Kong
Or in my unspoiled village in interior Taiwan
Where I can still speak my dear dear undead dialect
A dialect in danger
Endanger
Ed
Educa
Shhh
Plus
Actually
I only ever speak English in Hong Kong
Mandarin is too too
Actually
You know
To speak Mandarin in Hong Kong is to
People would think I was
Actually
Vocal pause
And you said See Why Long
CY Leung
Actually I don't know who's she
He
I don't know what this particular chief of
Of
Vocal pause
And the protests
The umbrella uprising
Yes
But actually in Mong Kok too I didn't know
No
Yes
I live
Really
Near
There
Actually
So
Cantonese can be
People will
Cantonese people can actually leave
Speak it overseas
Festivals
Museums
As
A
The
Preserve
Enough
Drama
Tic
Democratic
An irony schmirony symphony
A coughing choir cacophony
A conservation that kills
Pandas in plexiglas prisons prefer not to procreate
A conversation that
Umbrellas for
In defense of
Peaceful
Passive
Pacific
Polite
Defense of
Democra
See
A Bruce Lee jeeting
Jyut
Ng
The sound the sound
The Cantonese resound
Umbrellas
Confronting
Interrupting
Jyuting
Boys in blue
And pro-Beijing bylines
And censuring presses censored
Jyuting jyuting
Pepper spray
Tear gas
Batons
Brutes
Umbrella made verb
To serve and to protect
And to take umbrage
To umbrella
Against
Offense
In defense of
To defend
Votes
Voices
Choices
From the sterile bureaus of cold elites to the cleaner publics of street-sweeps
Forced
Mong Kok
Where actual unarmed students actually hold actual mirrors in front of actual riot police
Et tu, Custode?
Say four say say
Yat yee sam say
And ng
Add ng
Add oil
A perpetuation
A persistence
Pengyau
Ga Yau
A resistance morphing exhaust-toxic motorways into sculpture-park boulevards
So the public can
Mongkokers
May
Sit
Wait
Walk
Wander
Can persist to resist to
In order to
Exist
Us as
Us is
Not
Us was
Here
Hear
The people sing
Actually actual
Umbrellaing |