gala

The goddess inside this temple used to be male.There are also sixty divinities of time.
Photo: Lin Fa (Lotus) Temple, Tai Hang, Hong Kong

two in the air

Two friends are flying today, taking, making
a holiday, and I wish them safety
and joy and all things beautiful.
Photo: Metal structure, Northpoint, Hong Kong

one

We are one.
Photo: Cone, Hong Kong

gold on gold

Golden trees receiving sun.
Photo: Lichen on trees, Hong Kong

clean and clear

Here we are, near the end of a year.

A time to clean, clear, lighten, brighten.
Photo: P's washing machine, Lantau, Hong Kong

petals on plaid

Like a bright day table
for a long slow brunch on plaid.
Photo: At Bethanie, Hong Kong

tree lace

A tree to trace, eye along
the line, the lace
Photo: Frangipani, Hong Kong

I believe

I believe in us.
Photo: Bethanie arch, Hong Kong

feel, feeling

Holidays are coming and I feel
like watching, feeling, movies.
Photo: Audience and performance,
International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong 2011

merry clips

Merry things, merry clips.
Photo: Downstairs from my Tai Hang home, Hong Kong

pinky-purple

I wonder if the pee of the people who lived here was also pinky-purple!
Photo: King Yin Lei, a mansion in Hong Kong

x

Kiss the sky.
Photo: A festival in my Hong Kong neighbourhood

wet purple

A wet purple star.
Photo: In a garden, New Zealand

why can't we enter?

I want a pair of scissors.
Photo: Oil Street Complex, Hong Kong
The seaside site was recently sold to a conglomerate.
A hotel will come. In the 1990s, the Complex was a site for artists.

slow ground

The 'slow' has been staked.
Photo: Oil Street Complex, Hong Kong

city squares

Let us count the beauty we see
every day, and let us make
more.
Photo: from the Mid-Levels escalator, Hong Kong

getting in the mood

Three trees getting in the mood.
Photo: Near a hotel in Tai Hang, Hong Kong

something's coming

I wonder what this woman is thinking.
Feels like something is coming.
Photo: Hawker, Philippines

scene, seen

Putting this scenery here on this page
puts me back to that afternoon
for a moment or two.
Thank you.
Photo: Lantau Island, Hong Kong

glassy

Looks like a glass fin.
Photo: A piece of window glass, New Zealand

building, clothing

Buildings dressed.
Photo: Scaffolding seen from Bowen Road, Hong Kong

fishy

I keep seeing fish tanks. The other day,
at a seafood restaurant. And this one,
near Victoria Park.
Photo: Tony's Aquarium, Tin Hau, Hong Kong

watery mind

Many things swimming in my head.
Photo: Seafood restaurant window, Hong Kong

From South Africa: win, justice, win

The climate talks are on in Durban, South Africa.
I went to that city many years ago, when Mandela
had just come in and there was so much promise.
As I once wrote in a poem: 'win, this moment, win'.
Win, justice, win.
Always and please.
Photo: Hong Kong harbo(u)rfront
(when I think of Durban, I think of palm trees)
Text: Follow the climate talks here:
http://climatechange.oxfam.org.hk/

still and moving

Looks like a still life, but we're always moving.
Photo: Waitoke, New Zealand

lines of a palm

Palm reading. Radiating.
Photo: Tree, Tai Hang, Hong Kong

particularizing

The writer Robert Creeley has called the New Zealand sky 'particularizing' and I think he's bright and right.
Photo: Sculpture and sky, Wellington, New Zealand

drawing light

Roots above, across our walk.
Photo: Reflection off glass building, Mongkok

thick, thicker

Some days seem thicker than others.
Photo: Bamboo construction poles

brush

Once an animal, now
a bushy exclamation point.
Photo: Animal fur, location forgotten

around, every, support

Around the world, and every day, let us support another.
Text: Today is World Aids Day
Photo: Making peace cranes, Hiroshima

movable bundles

Early in the morning, there are many bundles like this along the street. A movable place of work.
Photo: Wrapped up merchandise, Hong Kong

may we grow

May we all grow.
Today is the birthday of a boy I know.
And the eleventh month since a birth of mine.
Photo: Plants at the Occupy Central site, Hong Kong
Text: Enjoy the day, S and I.

bright is my friend

A friend has died, and I send these flowers,
brightly, because she will always stay in my mind
that way: bright, alive, full, loving, kind.
Photo: Poinsettia, in Hong Kong
Text: For A and F, 1980-2011

heavy feet

Looks like the footstool has gone through,
into the sidewalk, into the earth.
Like someone's life was heavy.
Photo: New Orleans

a-changing

For the times, they are a-changing.
Photo: Lily pads dissolving, Texas

autumnal

Autumnal is a favo(u)rite word, and this feels like autumn,
even though the image is of New Zealand, where it is springtime now.
Photo: Wairarapa, New Zealand

thanks, and give

Today in USA it is Thanksgiving, one of my favo(u)rite holidays there - and in Hong Kong, my loved day is Mid-Autumn Festival. Tonight, I will give a drink to anyone I know at Club 71, one of my living rooms here in this hometown of Hong Kong. And I give thanks to my New Zealand home, to the New Zealand sky.
Photo: Sky over Wairarapa, New Zealand

sometimes sleeping is

Sometimes sleeping alone is a gorgeous thing, and other times... Sometimes he walks in the garden when he is sleepless. And Sleepless is the poem I once wrote:
All night the wind
changes its mind.
Photo: Street pole, Hiroshima

I work here

North Point is where I work. Not sure what we're specifically north of to give us the name, and where the exact point is, but I love being near a ferry pier, a fresh market for fruit and vegetables, a diner with good food and no pretentions, a restful tram line, and a Cantonese opera theatre.
Photo: No Parking sign, New Zealand

pull

I like the boldness here, the proportion of Chinese to
English, and part of me wants to pull
off the remainder of that piece of tape. 
Photo: A recycling container, Hong Kong

lit white

Maybe every museum is a holy place. This one reminds me of the times when we lit white candles on the Tannenbaum.
Photo: Entrance area, LA County Museum of Art

sweet breathing

Last night, I was among trees for a while, that sweet breathing.
Photo: Flower, Waitoke, New Zealand

four people, five thousand people

Today, about five thousand people will walk the hills of Hong Kong. I will be there as they finish their journey.

Every year for the past thirty years, on a weekend in November when the weather gets cooler and the season of goodwill starts picking up its tempo, they do a wonderful thing and walk 100 kilometres. They walk in teams of four, supporting each other along the way.

Text: The opening of an article I wrote for Oxfam Trailwalker,

published today in South China Morning Post, page A15

Photo: Before a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Japan

the ah

Ah, the space. Ah, the lines.
Like the 'Ah' of a poem.
Photo: Chair, New Orleans

warm is the carpenter

The warmth of wood.
Photo: A butcher's board, Hong Kong

marooned

Seventeen years ago, my passport was taken at knifepoint. Nine years ago, the replacement passport was stolen from my home. This morning, a woman punched two holes through my current passport, expiring on its own accord, so for the next little while, I am marooned. Please come and visit me. 
Photo: Pavement somewhere in Texas

what does this look like?

I am guessing you didn't think of a pier.
Photo: Central Piers, Hong Kong

Occupy Hong Kong

Since 15 October, they have been living at HSBC, 1 Queen's Road, Central District. They are living a happy life, they say. They have made a home, with bedrooms (tents), 2 sofas, book shelves, a computer area. Last night they held a community kitchen, with beautiful food brought by friends and supporters. One friend brought a huge organic pomelo grown at Kadoorie Farm. Another, living plants and compost from Lantau. And I, a huge pot of veggie soup from Tai Hang. Today, there's a workshop on how to pickle turnips. The residents will be picking wild plants for their food, and collecting the discarded butts of vegetables from nearby markets.
Photo: A chair on a sidewalk, Hong Kong

yummy

This fruit is like the dragon fruit, but richer flesh, and seeds that crunch.
Photo: I do not know the name of this fruit
Neither does the fruit