Moving House and other Poems from Hong Kong

by Gillian Bickley, Ling Chung (Preface)

These poems arose within a variety of cultures, from time spent in England, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland. Some portray Hong Kong people and general subjects of Hong Kong daily life -- an itinerant knife sharpener, a fortune teller, a grandmother and grandson, academics at a conference. Some reflect on people and events beyond Hong Kong. The poems draw on both urban and rural environments. As in Bickley's first poetry collection, For the Record and other Poems of Hong Kong , there is a section of deeply personal poems, again reflecting separation and irremedial loss. Advice is offered and unusual experience shared. As Emeritus Professor I. F. Clarke and M. Clarke jointly write, The variety of human life and the individual response to life, these are Gillian Bickley's central interests. Readers from many backgrounds and various ways of life should find points of contact with this poetry, which presents varied experience in words that are deceptively simple. The essay on new Hong Kong English language poetry is the text of a talk given in the English Department Staff Seminar series at Hong Kong Baptist University and continues the discussion of writing in Hong Kong, found in her earlier poetry collection, For the Record and other Poems of Hong Kong . As with Gillian Bickley s earlier poetry book, For the Record , the CD included in Moving House is a professional recording of all the poems in this collection, read by the author. 2nd in a series.

130 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2005