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Congratulations to Victoria Jin and Chong Kwan Wong, the winners of the Chinese Section in HKILF 2023 Poetry Competition “Home”! Both winners will receive a voucher and a special gift from Bookazine.

Well done to all participants for their remarkable contributions. We express our heartfelt gratitude to our esteemed judge, Mr. Sy Wai Nok, for his careful selection.

Sy Wai Nok is a local writer and a member of the Xinchuan Literary Club. He currently teaches at the Education University of Hong Kong and has worked at the Hong Kong Literature Research Center of CUHK. He has won the Awards for Creative Writing in Chinese, Intervarsity Creative Writing Competition Award, among others. His works have appeared in Fleurs des Lettres and Voice & Verse.

我的心 我的家

金嘉悅 Victoria Jin

現在我可以做夢了嗎
柔軟的沙發、溫馨的台燈
外婆的紅燒肉、外公的手擀麵
和家人擁抱的瞬間
幸福就這樣沾滿全身

我想和家人生活
還記得,那年夏天
我們來到沙漠中的某個小鎮
聆聽駱駝的腳步聲
它們脖子上的駝鈴搖晃
叮叮噹噹
像時間輕輕撥動
遠在異鄉
可我依然內心充實
因為
只要家人在哪裡

家就在那裡

請允許我再說一遍
我愛你們
即使一遍遍地重復也不會膩
那是我演奏的鋼琴聲
那是蠟燭點燃後的歌唱
也是我記憶中媽媽的叮嚀

我喜歡出發
但我不喜歡離開
即使有一天
我走遍千山萬水
即使有一天
星辰指引我去向遠方
不管我在世界的哪個角落
我的心
永遠在家

家的形狀

黃創筠 Chong Kwan Wong

將浴缸放在廚房
為碗碟洗澡
將抽油煙機放在廁所
抽走頭油
將餐桌放在睡房
睡在桌上
將睡床放在玄關
帶着睡夢出門
將鞋櫃放在露台
跳出窗外
——邊個噉教你?
將浴缸放回廁所
頭要洗得潔淨
將抽油煙機放回廚房
抽走危險的滾燙
將餐桌放回客廳
長輩晚輩要排正
將睡床放回睡房
替睡夢蓋被壓死在睡床
將鞋櫃放回玄關
怎樣走着也要牢記被鞋套上
——邊個噉教你?

We are delighted to announce two exceptional winners of the English Section in HKILF 2023 Poetry Competition “Home”: Aimee Hong for the Junior Sector, and Kaitlyn Chan for the Public Sector. The two winners will each receive a voucher and a special gift from Bookazine.

With a total of 101 entries, we extend our sincere gratitude to all the talented participants who contributed to the success of this competition. A special thank you goes to our esteemed judge, Dr. Sayed Gouda, for carefully selecting these outstanding works.

Dr Sayed Gouda was born in Cairo and moved to Hong Kong in 1992 where he currently resides. He did his undergraduate studies in Egypt and China, majoring in Chinese language and literature, and received his PhD in comparative literary studies from the City University of Hong Kong. He won several poetry awards with 15 books that include 5 poetry collections, 3 novels, and other books of translation.

Who I Am

Aimee Hong

The flickering, blinking lights fade into blurry, glowing lines
They fly past in a blink, mellowly upon the city’s fickle scene
A short stop in a traffic jam, the red light shines
Falling deeper into a dazzling night, all of it feels like a dream
Sentimental, I melt into the backseat as my vision becomes blurry
This comfort, familiarity, through the window, all of it shows
Though dominated by the neon street signs, the moonlight does not worry
It spills just like liquid silver onto the rocky, concrete roads
Everything washes over fuzzily, on the monotonous, crowded crosswalks
From red to yellow, then green, the car’s radio tunes out songs from days gone by,
It doesn’t wait, it washes over, the gentle melody rides with us past the many city blocks
I can’t help but feel it blends perfectly with the rich, indigo sky
Days of both joy and sorrow were embraced by the swaying skyscrapers,
Apartment complexes, indistinguishable just as I always knew they were
These narrow pavements I walk on again and again, covered in flyers and newspapers,
I want to stay here forever, for this life and the next, I’m sure
The nostalgia takes over me, even though I’ve never left
This is my home, my life, this is who I am

Home in the Archipelago

Kaitlyn Chan

Days that pass in fleeting moments
in suffocating snapshots of repetition. Only
in the witching hour do we realise
the endearing silence that we bring home,
As keys jangle and
footsteps fade…
The screeching kettle halts to a stop.
Breathe, in the quiet standstill
when what we take for granted fall
away from our fingertips.
Swift as sand
and harsh as the morning rush.
Alarms ring when we stand back from the platform doors.
Watch, through a flurry of teary
interludes and departures.
Always going away, never coming back.
“To leave or not to leave, that is the question—”
This City
With her blinding light shows and morning Dim Sum,
Gentle sunset runs and peanut butter egg waffles.
Alas! Even when home changes and
autumn cedar gets replaced by painted plastic,
the Aqua Luna heaves her red mast and
sets sail, nonetheless.