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Not only that none of the poems in the present collection has been published, I am also a “poet” who has never published any poem, though a number of my pieces were recited or sung in the
meetings of Swans of Usk, the poetry group based in Brecon of mid-Wales, to which I belonged.
I wish to thank the late Hilary Scott-Archer and my good friend Peter Brooke for helping me through the revision of this collection; without them, it would not have come into existence. I
am also indebted to my other friends Jenni Rule, Roy Powell, Antonia Spowers, Patricia Evans, Mike Scott-Archer, and Chris Meredith who have read or heard some of the drafts and have given me
inspiring suggestions and encouragement, and to Amy who was always the first person to read the early drafts and to realise my poetic writings were worthwhile. Now looking back, it all
started as an escapade.
Other than being my good friends, Jenni, Roy and Peter have been my poetry tutors, Antonia was our former neighbour and one of our first friends in Talgarth who always took care of us,
cooked us good meals, allowing us to share her bathroom whenever we had a boiler problem, reading my manuscripts, and introducing her friends to us. And Mike and Hilary were generous hosts of
our poetry group meetings.
Being a non-native speaker of English, a Chinese born and raised in Hong Kong and educated in the United States, and a resident of Wales from January 2008 to May 2015, I somehow find my
adventure in English poetry a most fascinating experience. I suppose the rich legacy of Chinese poetry which I have inherited, and the Welsh bardic tradition that I was exposed to have
certainly played a part in forging my creative urges. Now looking back, it all started as an escapade.
I would also thank my friend Chor Koon-fai for the translation of 5 of my English pieces into Chinese. Above all, I must offer my heartfelt gratitude to Peter Jay who has edited and
commented on 5 of the most favourite pieces of my own. Also, my thanks to Suk Lee who introduced Mr Jay to me.
The present collection contains 60 poems written from 2011 to 2019, 15 in Chinese and 45 in English. Also there are my English translation of 7 classical and contemporary Chinese poems, and
Mr Chor’s Chinese translation of 5 of my English pieces.
May I thank all those friends and people who have posed, though inadvertently, for my portrayal.
SYC
Hong Kong
