Hong Kong, 2010

by Vaughan Rapatahana

stuck

in

Ho Tin,

as the smog skulks,

the perennial clitter-clatter
of the
lambent light-rail

& that stoic perambulation
of the feet feet feet

plodding ever footsore
to circadian
drudgery
in some grieving
office
tower

la*mb**aste***d

behind

over-

b  u  r  d  e  n  e  d

apartments

meltedinto

s  w  a  GG  e  r  i  n  g

MASS.

bereft of scope,

a tunnel-vision periphrasis:
money/money/money/money.

a sort of stringent Hell
for millions;

braaaaaaaggadocio
buried alive
in dystopian maze
& diasporic haze;

our sole epiphany -

perhaps -

a smarmy bun
on that
sole
free day
fluked
once
a
year…

***

climbing out of Tuesday

climbing out of Tuesday,

brains limp in a
schoolbag
I
foisted
one year,

shunted home
past
the
s   p   r   e   a   d   e   a   g   l   e
used condom
condominiums,

sy nc op at ing
round
those
same
5
dogs,

canine
aliens
s   p   r   a   w   l   e   d,

a set of satay
on an
ogre
platter,

another
few dollars
swiped,
whole
from

greedy
octopus,

while
inside  
mass
breaths redolent
of
a fishwife’s apron

&

the pak paks’
burnt
lips
from butts
gone wrong

eviscerate
my
gweilo
nostrils.

climbing out of Tuesday

the sky
a misnomer,
a blatant lie
(no one can sight it)

as the
fancy dress
party
of the
uninformed
uniformed
clatters
ever on…..


& the doors

shut
behind
like
poh po’s
mouths;

more shaky
every day.


[octopus – swipe card used for train & bus transport
pak pak – old men
gweilo – foreigner – orang putih
poh po – old women]

 ***

I love you more

I love
you
more
than
all
those
other contenders,
flashing
their sprightly teeth over
lightly-licked lips,
tongues
swishing through
in sexual
derisions.

I love
you
more than
all
those
other wanna-bes,
sluicing
their rampant manes in
faint expectation
I will leap over
and finger comb those tresses;
sultry
eyes
lusting
for
promise.

I love you more
than any man
can,
more than
temptation
mounts
to
incarcerate
me

in its
widescreen
bosom,
swaying
its wanton
hips,
figuring
my demise
into
sheets
of solid satin.

I love you more
than this.

All poems above © Vaughan Rapatahana 2010

Vaughan Rapatahana is a New Zealand Maori. He lived 5 years in Brunei Darussalam, where he learned Malay. Now, he is settled in Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong, with his Filipino wife. They have travelled to Malaysia a few times, the last in August, 2009.

He has writings published in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Hong Kong and The Philippines.

His third poetry collection is due out in 2011, with a cover note by the great Muhammad Haji Salleh, whom he included in the first ever English language poetry anthology in Brunei Darussalam, entitled Under the Canopy, back in 1998. He was a teacher there from 1995 to 1999.

About these poems Vaughan says, "These poems stem from my diurnal grind as a teacher of English every day here in Hong Kong. The other one will be obvious in gestation!"