A Future of Madness

by Kika Man 文詠玲

The most I have seen of the future
is on tv. A star whale transporting 
a fallen empire across space, despite the torture.
The same train model returning
on land, through starry skies.
I have seen the titanic fall out of space,
setting a course to the palace of dead queens.
One time, I saw the moon break open,
birthing yet another pre-astronomic creature
that, instead of leaving earth to be flooded,
left another egg to take care of the waves.

Elsewhere, I have seen how the same tram
never stopped announcing its arrival.
The same city in ever-changing struggles
but with the same ding-ding welcomed with open arms. 
Temples change into skyscrapers with only their tops left over.
To keep culture but make it sustainable, minibuses are transformed 
into green-roofed yellow monstrosities.

In order to change, to revolutionise,
maybe the past is not the answer.
Maybe the cultural heritage of old kings and empires 
has to make space for the livelihood of the heirs of those colonized.
Maybe queerness will really explode once we break
with old language norms.
Maybe the future lies in something different, something mad.

Kika Man 文詠玲 (they/them) is a writer from Belgium and Hong Kong. Kika writes about their mixed heritage, mental health, about music and blueness. They grapple daily with the question of where one community starts and the other end, they emphasize tenderness and platonic affections above all. They are one of the founding member of Slam-T (spoken word & slam poetry platform) and a PhD Candidate in Cultural Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Kika is the author of Let the Mourning Come (Prolific Pulse LLC, 2022) and they have been published in Capsule Stories, Anti-Heroin Chic, Bridge and others. You can find Kika on Twitter and Instagram @kikawinling and further on kikawinling.wordpress.com.