Growling Halcyon

pillows of smog
on its throat, spoken
heavy like broken meteors
landing in the harbor

the lights
high accessory, aurora
bling future, garment
space suits
on buildings

star ferry, rocking
charted
ancient long, beams
hold buoyant
history

flute slung down
sub-tropic mountain side
a typhoon,
whistle in bamboo

beast rattle, trolley
car thunder
growling Halcyon
pronouncing
the city

So I been adventuring since I last inked here. An acquaintance of mine, a friend named Jim, dropped in on his way from Shanghai back to Seattle this last weekend. We ventured to an area called Lan Kwai Fong which is near Central in HK. LKF on a Friday night is a freaking zoo. It is essentially the party area for expats, foreigners and locals to co-mingle and get crazy. There are literally thousands of people partying the streets and bar hopping – every weekend.

The drinks in the bars are pretty pricy, but its legal to drink in the street so this is how it works: You go to 7/11 and buy a beer, the cashier pops your bottle top and you basically kick it in front of 7/11 drinking your beer and watching the mad scene unfold. Needless to say Jim and I had a fun time, we behaved ourselves for the most part and were responsible within the realm of having fun (<—mom). The thing that baffles me is that people party like this all the time, its cracking till the sun comes up for real. It is definitely a scene, and you have the same people kicking it in the 7/11 crowds as there are in "members only" clubs.

Since last writing I have learned how to order a few things at restaurants on my own, learned a bit more cantonese and learned that it would be possible for me to spend all my money on clothes here. Ima be sooo fitted when I get back to Seattle, ya not ready. haha.

I have a pretty solid list of bomb eats spots around Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. BBQ pork is off the chains, the won ton noodles at Mak's are quickly becoming a staple in my diet. (ACTUALLY just made friends with one of the servers there today, Calvin, and he offered to take me to some more spots in Causeway Bay this Friday afternoon on his day off!!! ahhh jeeeah.)

I got to play “local” this week a bit too (while dude Jim was here, and again yesterday and today while my friends Jenny and Myra were here for a wedding for their friends). I have to admit it feels pretty good to introduce HK to other people, I haven’t been here too long but these couple visits have been a good measuring stick for how much I’ve really learned about the city and how comfortable I am traveling around it.

School has been going great still, students are having epiphanous moments this week in terms of using imagery and simile to describe things. We are writing “Where I’m From” poems and learning to detail our surroundings and our experience in our local environment by making comparisons using the 5 senses. Some really great stuff today, one student’s opening lines (Gordon) stuck in my mind he said:

Boats travel like flash photos
the harbor smells like diesel
and rotting fish

I am really proud of the work they have been doing. It has been really challenging for them to conceptualize some of these ideas, as well as its been a challenge for me to communicate them but they are all very intuitive and creative and willing to try. Overall, by the sound of it, it looks and feels like they’re gon have some tasty poems when were done, in a sense you could say they are following their noses. : )

Well on to the next next for now. Going to Vietnam next weekend with my friends Carmen and Joanne, staying in Ho Chi Minh city for 3 days over the holiday. Really excited, they’re really fun -should be a great trip. Keep ya posted.

peace – mg