Focused On Their Own Steps
by Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho
{{{ Hong Kong—Friday 7 August 2020 }}}
Eighty-nine new confirmed COVID-19 cases today. Since working from home, my activities have been restricted to Hong Kong Island. Today I had to go to Kowloon to take care of some matters at the storeroom for Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. As soon as I arrived I could hear the landlord phoning tenants to tell them to have their air-conditioning units inspected. During the pandemic, few people go to these rented storerooms. On the vast floor, there were just the two of us. His voice on the phone was loud, through the walls; it even echoed. From what I could hear, he must have a good relationship with the tenants. After telling each one to make sure that the air-conditioning is properly examined, he also suggested that they should have a get-together, one-on-one, for afternoon tea. Tea for two, of course, because of the current restrictions. The government’s harsh measure has led to a romance of sorts between the landlord and his many tenants. I could tell he was not saying all this out of feigned politeness, but was genuinely enjoying the conversations—he made every call just that bit longer. After taking a look at my air-conditioning unit and explaining the terms of the rent, he asked if I’d like to get a drink together. Because I had an online event later that night, I declined. And, on that note, he returned to the roomiest office on the floor, to call the next tenant…
Back on Hong Kong Island, I passed the pedestrian tunnel leading from Pacific Place to Star Street; it’s intended only for people to walk through, not to linger. No exception during the pandemic. On one side a moving walkway, and on the other, a wall of advertisements. This wall has been bare since the end of last year, and recently it has been covered with images of a number of cartoon portraits. (None of them looks like me!) Today one of the walkways was being repaired and a tiny old woman gripped the handrail, not moving a step. She cut quite the figure amid the hurrying well-dressed crowds in Admiralty. However, everyone was focused on their own steps, and few paid attention to her. I was about to ask if she needed help, but she looked up and said in a low voice, ‘I am fine. I’ll be okay again very soon.’ I wasn’t sure if she was directing that reassurance to me, or to others, or to herself. But I know that what she said is something everyone has said to themselves lately…
今天香港89宗新冠肺炎確診病例。自從居家工作以來，一直在港島中區範圍活動，今天必須要過海去詩刊的倉庫。一打開門就聽到倉庫的業主在打電話給租戶，著他們檢查冷氣機。疫情時期，租戶都不在倉庫，偌大一層樓只有他和我兩個人在，他講電話的聲音格外清晰，隔幾面牆都聽得到，甚至還能聽到迴聲。聽得出他平時和租客的關係很好，囑咐完他們回來檢查冷氣機後，都會提出見面時一定要喝個二人下午茶。「二人」當然是因為限聚令了，這個特殊情況也造就了浪漫的業主租客關係。聽得出他不是在寒暄，而是真的想聊聊天，每通電話都不必要地再拖長一點點。檢查完冷氣機，交代完租約的事，他便問我要不要一起喝杯東西。想起晚上還有線上活動，我就推辭了。於是他又回到整層最大的辦公室，打電話給下一位租客⋯⋯
回來時走過從太古廣場到星街的人行隧道。人行隧道，顧名思義就是通常不會有人駐足，就連抗疫時期也不例外。隧道一邊是電動平面步道，另一邊是廣告板。廣告板從去年年尾開始一直留白，直到最近才貼上漫畫化的各式各樣的行人像。（居然沒有一個像我。）今天其中一條步道正在維修，一位瘦小的老婦人扶著步道上的扶手，一動不動，在每位金鐘白領都行色匆匆的隧道裏格外引人注目。可是好像每個人都自顧自走過，沒有多看老婦人一眼。我正想開口問她是否需要幫忙，她抬頭好像很小聲地說了一句：「我沒事，很快就好了。」不知她是對我說，還是對其他人說，還是對自己說。抗疫時期，這是每個人都想對自己說的話吧⋯⋯
Industrial
How to cite: Song, Chris. “Focused On Their Own Steps.” Translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho. Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 7 Aug. 2020, chajournal.blog/2020/08/07/steps/.
Chris Song (author) is a poet, translator and editor based in Hong Kong. He has published four collections of poetry and many volumes of poetry in translation. Chris received an “Extraordinary Mention” at Italy’s UNESCO-recognized Nosside World Poetry Prize 2013 and the Young Artist Award at the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. In 2018 he obtained a PhD in Translation Studies from Lingnan University. More recently he won Haizi Poetry Award in 2019. Chris is currently Editor-in-Chief of Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine and Executive Director of the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong.
Tammy Lai-Ming Ho (translator) is the founding co-editor of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, an editor of the academic journals Victorian Network and Hong Kong Studies, and the first English-language Editor of Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. She is an Associate Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, where she teaches poetics, fiction, and modern drama. She is also the President of PEN Hong Kong, a Junior Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities, an advisor to the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing, and an Associate Director of One City One Book Hong Kong. Tammy’s first collection of poetry is Hula Hooping (Chameleon 2015), for which she won the Young Artist Award in Literary Arts from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Her first short story collection Her Name Upon The Strand (Delere Press), her second poetry collection Too Too Too Too (Math Paper Press) and chapbook An Extraterrestrial in Hong Kong (Musical Stone) were published in 2018. Her first academic book is Neo-Victorian Cannibalism (Palgrave, 2019). Tammy edited or co-edited a number of literary volumes having a strong focus on Hong Kong, the most recent one being Twin Cities: An Anthology of Twin Cinema from Singapore and Hong Kong (Landmark Books, 2017). She guest-edited a Hong Kong Feature for World Literature Today (Spring 2019), the Hong Kong special issue of Svenska PEN’s PEN/Opp, and an e-chapbook of Hong Kong poetry published by Cordite Publishing. Tammy is also a translator and her literary translations can be found in World Literature Today, Chinese Literature Today, Pathlight: New Chinese Writing, among other places, and International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong volumes (2015, 2017 and 2019). Her own poems have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latvian, and Vietnamese. She is currently co-editing several academic volumes in addition to 2020: A Bilingual Anthology of Hong Kong Poetry.
(Header photograph © Oliver Farry.)
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