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hardback HK$145.00
Chameleon Press
Paddyfield.com
ALSO SEE
Excerts and reviews from the Accidental Occidental website
More reviews by Bruce Dalbrack
Readers may purchase reviewed books from Paddyfield.com, Asia's online bookseller.North American readers may prefer to buy US editions from Powells.com.
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Accidental Occidental by David McKirdy
As a fellow Scot who has spent many years away, it is easy to appreciate where David McKirdy is coming from: born Scotland, bred Hong Kong, demotivated and disenchanted as an adult in London -- the alienating experience of Britain's capital proved too much and he returned to live in Sai Kung, where many of the poems in this coffee-table book format collection were written.
Accompanying illustrations and photos work well and the poetry itself surely deserves an 'A' for creativity, positively reveling in being consistently inconsistent. Regular stanzas are used rarely and unpredictable streams of consciousness appear often. Rhyming couplets that at first glance look like cut and paste jobs from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales reveal lines chiming only with themselves. Other poems imitate personal adverts or newspaper headlines.
When McKirdy mixes gloom with sophisticated lighter touches he is not a million miles from Spike Milligan. Role Call - "My name's Jamal and I'm an Afghani. My name's Yeshe and I'm a Tibetan" and Old School Ties -- "He lost his health and lost his teeth / helping the police with their inquiries" -- contain lines that schoolchildren might commit to memory. Abroad in England laments British television thus: "Played by graduates from RADA with cockney elocution. / Alas poor Yorick, wot a prat."
Enlightenment is worth sharing in its entirety:
- I met a Buddha yesterday,
With saffron robes and saffron-coloured fingers.
He was enlightened enough to smoke filtered cigarettes.
"Was I a Buddhist too?" He asked.
"No, I gave up over twenty years ago."
"Well," said he "If you've a good heart
you're Buddhist enough for me."
Like Milligan, it is clear these light touches conceal weightier concerns. Revulsion of things British is obvious and clearly connects memories of his melancholy life in London with the strands of British life that McKirdy sees in Hong Kong. Pole Dancer bites through the expatriate and girly bar scene better than Mike Tyson ever could -- "Squalid symbiotic sadness / Together they dance alone". Old Asia hands will be uncomfortable reading Flagging: "Your Hong Kong is gone, the thin red line / the battle of Britain is lost. / So bravely retreat, you're not needed now, leave the lights on there are people still here."
Some readers will prefer McKirdy when he backs off self-introspection and is more flippant and relaxed; several poems are difficult to follow although admittedly that could count as good poetry -- there is always something to keep you guessing. Even though the craftsmanship disappoints here and there, as psychological insight this collection shines. Anyone who has experienced the double-whammy of alienation from where they came and where they live now should consider adding Mr McKirdy to their collection.
- Editor's note: 'Accidental Occidental' is published by Chamelon Press, associated with this publication.
Bruce Dalbrack
28/08/2005
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