"Diptych for Hong Kong’s Dragon Gates, while the Students Protest" by Candice Kelsey

Diptych for Hong Kong’s Dragon Gates, while the Students Protest

I

Pull our rickshaw faith

into the sea troubled

by feathery winds

and as you

lose your weight and grip

take from me

these eyes your tip.

Kick off toward the moon’s dock:

Let us sink like Ophelia flowered

by dagger-tooth junks playing about

our smoky hair bubbling

to the sound

of a collective swallow.

That will be our lullaby as we

watch the great donor shore keep offering

its marrow.

II

Our faith like a rotting potato

bruised and collapsed

turns green as jade

and almost as lovely

We chant Revolution.

For from the sea we’ll rise

one winged dragon

shedding water like New Year’s coins

to swing out in harmony

soaring toward our brothers

the mountains who stand in renewal

waiting behind the skyscrapers’

wide-mouthed steel

for our return

through the holy gate

Hong Kong reclaimed.

Candice Kelsey

Candice Kelsey [she/her] is a poet, educator, and activist currently living in Augusta, Georgia. She serves as a creative writing mentor with PEN America's Prison & Justice Writing Program; her work appears in Grub Street, Poet Lore, Lumiere Review, Hawai'i Pacific Review, and Slant among other journals. Recently, Candice was chosen as a finalist in Iowa Review's Poetry Contest and Cutthroat's Joy Harjo Poetry Prize. Her third book titled A Poet just released with Alien Buddha Press. Find her @candicekelsey1 and www.candicemkelseypoet.com.

Headshot: Leora Wright

Photo Credit: Staff