City & Walking

Not long ago, many citizens walked.
They took walking seriously, for it was their right,
their core value, common language, and identity trait.
Side by side, they walked the streets of Admiralty,
Wanchai, Causeway Bay, North Point,
Sai Ying Pun, Sheung Wan, Central,
Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei, Jordan,
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hung Hom, Tuen Mun,
Tsuen Wan, Kwun Tung, and Yuen Long.
Everywhere was within their walking distance.
These walking memories take their place
as additional inhabitants, phantoms of the city.
They live and walk with those who remain.
When they can’t walk, they crawl and never give up.

City & Light

Every time I leave this home city
I leave something of myself behind.
I stay here even though I have gone away.
Some things in me I can only find by coming back.
But home is about its members too.
If people change, the place no longer feels the same.
Like the neon signs above the city’s streets
and the harbor dissipate, disappearing into oblivion.
Frantically, I rush off to Temple Street Market,
Tung Choi Street, and Lockhard Road,
immersing myself in kaleidoscopic fuchsias,
In the yellow as bright as sunflowers,
trying to find the missing things,
trying to feel at home.

Discontent and Its Citizens

In my city, the population doubled in four decades.
Then, like a sudden hemorrhage, mass migration
drained the wealth of talents and professionals away.

Before leaving, they decluttered, settled bills,
closed accounts, canceled plans, shipped things,
completed vaccinations, and said goodbyes.

They cut ties with their home city for its betrayals,
its move to authoritarian rule and shift from a refuge
for dissidents to a prison with large-scale arrests.

In this city, artists practice self-censorship,
books disappear, and words are dangerous.
The sun looms large, and silence reigns.

But to speak out against injustice and inequality
is part of being an author, and so I write on,
believing justice will prevail over tyranny.

Author’s Biography

Sonia FL Leung, a Hong Kong-based writer, is the author of Don’t Cry, Phoenix (2020), a bilingual (English and Chinese) poetry collection accompanied by a CD of ten original songs. Sonia holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in literary journals, such as Voice & Verse, West Trestle Review, Asian Cha, Remington Review, Mala, The Shanghai Literary Review, The Apostrophe, and the anthologies: Afterness – Literature from the New Transnational Asia, A Personal History of Home, and Making Space: A Collection of Writing and Art. Sonia is exploring publication opportunities for her memoir, The Girl Who Dreamed.