Brittle Like Glazed Porcelain

【Book Description】 Inscribe all with poetry before it vanishes Recommended by Lo Kwai-cheong, Tsao Suk-ying, and Chan Chi-tak “We have not forgotten Between those tears We remade with paper Our idols Let the scent of the square Sweat, blood, whispers Open for us The road home Reunion” --〈Idols〉 “Please do not say that love is nothingness Before us, behind us Love spoken in the void has never been realized Say we have never met Before the days arrive Please do not give up, please do not forget” --〈In the Heart of This City〉 "Brittle Like Glazed Porcelain" is the second poetry collection by Hong Kong poet Siu Sai, featuring 70 poems written between 2004 and 2019. Siu Sai's poetry is simple and restrained, drawing inspiration from his experiences living abroad, fleeting moments of inspiration in daily life, and the historical scars of his generation. Whether clear or confused, these themes all find their place under his pen. The phrase, "Precious things in the world are not strong; colorful clouds scatter easily, glazed porcelain is brittle," from "The Plum in the Golden Vase," perfectly encapsulates the poet's life experiences over the past decades. The universe is ever-changing, and worldly affairs are unpredictable. Facing a fluid era, poetry serves as spiritual practice, enlightenment, and deep, affectionate companionship. This book is dedicated to all souls wounded in this era. "Reading Siu Sai's seventy short poems doesn't feel like a hasty conclusion. His works seem to invite the reader to imagine that beyond the imagery and the depicted objects in the text, there is always another dimension of time and space. This heterogeneity blurs the seemingly certain, written realities and timelines. Beside a word, after a sentence, in some dark corner, another world quietly exists – a world pointed to by the words but not yet formed, flickering as if lit yet unlit, opened yet unopened, perpetually uncertain and unsettled." -- Reviewer Lo Kwai-cheong "Siu Sai likes to grasp the ephemeral in the concrete, not as an evasion, but as a grounding. He reflects light back. Opposition is not freedom; it is the accumulation of potential in emptiness that is freedom." -- Poet Tsao Suk-ying "Siu Sai returns clarity to what was once clear, hoping that clarity will remember Siu Sai existed in this world. The world flickers in and out of existence chaotically and ceaselessly. I can feel his indignation as a form of profound insight. Time has passed halfway, but do we know more than half has gone? If poetry has limits, like a prophecy of my own life, I wish our decades of companionship were as dreamlike as Siu Sai's." -- Reviewer, Poet Chan Chi-tak 【Author Biography】 Siu Sai Lecturer in the General Education Course at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He began by writing poetry, but for most of his life, he has written more criticism than creative works. He has written art criticism for many years. Living through turbulent times, in recent years he has focused on writing cultural and political commentary. His published works include the poetry collection "Cat River" and the essay collection "Records of Miniature Readings."