Sean Wai Keung
where is the tree my 公公 drew
after he died i received a collection of his drawings
and there it was
he had doodled it at some point probably sitting idly
in his chair watching the weather or east
enders or listening to his cassette tapes
of cantonese opera
the tree
perhaps it was inspired from something
he was watching or listening to at the time
perhaps it was a news report
which showed a park or the countryside
or maybe something happened in eastenders
in the park in the middle of the square
the tree
or maybe it was based on a tree he could see
outside from his chair – one of the overgrowing
things from the neighbours place or a tree
which used to be there years ago
before the asda got built there instead
or it could have been from an advert on the side
of the number 40 or number 40a at some point
when one of them stopped by
the tree
was it from a memory he held dear – from his childhood
in the hongkong countryside – before the war split
that image apart forever – or from his first step onto
mainland british soil – there must be some trees somewhere
in liverpool – or manchester or bradford or leeds
or york or hartlepool or grimsby or somewhere he had
lived – maybe there had been a park that had held some
special meaning to him – near to the first house he bought
or the first business he opened or his wedding
or outside as he held one of his children for the first
time or even one of his grandchildren
the tree
or could it have been a representation of the tree by the burial plot he had acquired
the one on the slight slope facing eastwards
at the bend of the small foresty path
at the south end of the cemetery
the same place where i stood that day
i said goodbye then received his drawings
SEAN WAI KEUNG is a Glasgow-based poet and performer. His pamphlet you are mistaken won the Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition in 2016 and he also has projects out with Speculative Books. He can be found at seanwaikeung.carrd.co or on social media @seanwaikeung.