Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Poetry 2020complete | Page 104

Future Adventures of the Greater Bay Area
Island School, Chen, Angela - 14
Tributaries
i. along the Pearl River
Rumbling;
whirring. The
push of a pedal, then
the blur of the sky.
Gears clicking. Motor
quickening; and little
by little, spirals of glass and
stalagmites of silver creep
into his view.
Wheels spinning; passengers flying
across suspended cement, hearts gratifying.
To the mighty Corridor, the bus steers;
And to the land of promise; he nears.
ii. pieces of sediment
The ping of the elevator
The clang of metro doors
The busy clicks of faux leather heels
The whirr of electric cars
She weaves through the throng;
Through the cobbled streets snaking between
casino courts where the ladies with
smiling eyes sell their homemade zhu pa bao;
Through the hubbub of foreign accents from
people yellow-, black-, fair-skinned, origins
far and wide;
Through the symphony of
Taipa mornings,
where her own footsteps added drumbeats to the
thrum.
The sun is a bright round orb in the sky
And caught up with their own hustle and bustle, no one
glances its way
But she does.
And she’s brought back, face-flushed and rosy-cheeked
Standing amongst stalks painted bronze, husks golden;
Under the glow of this very same sun.
Four years back but still fresh in her mind.
He’d returned, shoulders slouched,
in the dying wisps of daylight.
Her Ba, clutching a piece
of crumpled paper, telling her that