Canton
one, two systems
Nineteen Ninety Seven
with Tiananmen Square in minds
and fears.
Fears of
the yellow red,
of Communism might, this
crushing yoke on freedoms, shout out
Hong Kong.
Hong Kong
Island, Kowloon
mainland, inching up hills,
towers and roads in tropical
aspire.
The Reds
Puppet Master
set up to govern the
people of Hong Kong, instated
with strings.
The Reds
are the Gweilos.
Devil Red Foreigners,
imposing, posturing their will
against.
It flares
the Umbrella
protests in the streets of
Hong Kong like Tiananmen Square
does flare.
Hong Kong
democracy
whispers, shouts from their hearts.
Nine Dragon strikes, pulsating free-
dom tolls.
Poet’s Note
It’s the thirty year anniversary of Tiananmen Square and currents of protest in Hong Kong reflect a hunger for the promise of the 1997 treaty of handover, one nation, two systems which has slowly been eroded over the last twenty years. The poem is written in a cinquain form. The visual style of this poetry genre looks like the geography landscape of Hong Kong with the high rising cliffs and towers. Also each stanza visually looks like a Chinese character.
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Melinda Jane, known as The Poet Mj, is a writer and spoken word artist, who performs at festivals. Published writings in journals and anthologies like Mekong Review, Brushfire, Dime Show Review, cahoodaloodaling, The Paragon Journal, Hawai‘i Review, The Anti-Languorous Project and Poets Reading the News.
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