When what they need is land
Rent from DeepDyve- When what they need is land
March 12, 2011, the day after the Sendai earthquake
Sitting in the taxiwith my environmental bagsof fruit and cranberry bread …
… an earthquake in Japan yesterday left Sendai submerged in seawater tens of thousands fleeing from tsunamis …
I glance at the inevitableenormous photos of French modelsseducing from Admiralty facades …
… how many have lost their families when will the Japanese be able to go home will the next quake sink more of the country …
I race past the glass banks ofCentral in just a few minutes,up and down the expressway …
… how many nuclear reactors will explode how much radiation will the rains carry in which directions will the winds blow …
A gentle left turn brings meto the dried seafood, rice stores,dessert shops in Western … [End Page 145]
… why do we fly only our citizens back why give only money when what they need is land to build homes on to move schools to …
Up Pokfulam Road, down Bisney Road,and I am home. On my balcony, the sunrests on my orchids and the ocean beyond …
… beneath the ocean is the basalt seafloor pressing deep into the mantle of the earth on which our continents float like icebergs … [End Page 146]
Agnes Lam was born in Hong Kong. Her books of poetry include Woman to Woman and Other Poems, Water Wood Pure Splendour, and A pond in the sky. She was made Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa and received the 2008 Nosside International Poetry Prize (Special Mention). Her work has been translated into German, Italian, and other languages. She is currently researching Asian poetry in English.
