Arthur Leung holds an MFA in creative writing (with distinction) from the University of Hong Kong. His poems have been widely published in print magazines, anthologies and online journals. Leung serves as an Associate Editor for Cha and is on the international editorial board of Yuan Yang. He was a winner of the 2008 Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition. In 2009, Leung was commended by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government for his outstanding artistic accomplishments.
Spring 2012
Table of Contents - Vol. VIII, No. 1
Poetry Fiction Translations Essays Reviews
Arthur Leung
Languor of small hours, a man, lying prone under dim yellow light,
draws circles with his left forefinger on the bed sheet, rotates
around a blood stain for a couple of breathing minutes before
wandering across the arm of a woman lying in the same nakedness
until his finger reaches the valley between her breasts and circles
again, and goes fuller and fuller like the ones drawn on the pads of his son
who ran to him bare-footed and asked, ‘are my circles round enough?’
A smile, occasionally becoming smoke that whirls in the air, fades,
whirls again as the cigarette is finished, quietly leaves some wet ashes
and banknotes beside a rusted embroidery lamp, leaves for another woman
waiting on the couch, and drunk in his circling his forefinger slips back
from her skin to the bed sheet as he falls asleep with his mouth open
as if ready to howl out the echo of a name that circles and circles.
© Arthur Leung
