Poem

The Gap Years

We met in the year when I still looked rather awful with my braces.

You offered to help me with Excel

And I was eternally grateful.

During weekends without tuition lessons

We’d go to Sai Kung or Stanley,

Glad to be on our own, just anywhere falling outside the metro map.

When Dad fell sick you went with me to the hospital,

Waiting about patiently, peeling oranges, not minding the troubles,

On such a freezing cold and beautiful Sunday.

For a year or so after you left

For Canada, we made our efforts, making promises

But recollections of what we went through

Kept growing fuzzier, as another

Now held my hand when watching movies,

Your long distance calls and MSN messages

Dwindled to a nearly nothing. With a pang of nausea

I peeled off our sticker photo from my cell phone.

He doesn’t play sports or hiking at all

And likes that horrendous taste of stinky tofu, but he

Wrote me a song based on Eason’s ‘The Ferris Wheel of Happiness’,

Not sleeping for two nights. It became my habit

To tell him all that went on in our family.

Meanwhile, decrepit buildings got pulled down, like useless teeth,

To make way for the new.

For months in a row I listened to news

About the sudden death of birds and closure of Mai Po.

Some of our faiths got shaken, some not.

We learned to hide our sorrows,

Struggled with late night revisions and

Mulled over choices of university.

Before long the adolescent years

Would pass us by, sooner than we pray for or realise.

Copyright (c) Jennifer Wong 2008

now read the lesson plan

Lesson Plan

Part I – Reading and discussion (15 minutes)

In one big group, each is asked to share an object, a song or a news article that reflects teenagers in Hong Kong.

Read the poem ‘The Gap Years’ (5 minutes)

Sharing in groups of four (10 minutes)

o Discuss the treatment of time in the poem and the poetic techniques used. How is it relevant to the description of youth life?

Part II - Coaching (by teacher; 15 minutes)

Synopsis of poem:

o The poem is a first person narration of the adolescent years and the challenges of growing up. It begins with the teenager’s memories of his/her former puppy love, and how they used to spend time together either studying, or take walks in the countryside, or simply to provide emotional support for each other. It becomes a long distance relationship when his/her beloved moves to Canada, and is soon replaced by another relationship.

o In the background is the fast living pace of Hong Kong, with older buildings constantly replaced by newer ones, and the endless stream of social issues such as the threat of Avian flu – this serves as the background of the Hong Kong youth’s growing up process.

Poem title: why is the title called ‘The Gap Years’? Who usually gets to have a gap year and what usually is the mood or quality associated with it? What do you think it serves to highlight?

Poem structure: the length of each stanza is quite irregular, so that it comes across as more casual, sentimental and not as artificial. There is also not a clear break of lines between 4th and 5th stanza, so that it highlights the abrupt or quick transition of relationship from the previous lover to the next.

Poetic devices:

1. Oxymoron: a sense of contradiction is expressed by the line ‘I peeled off our sticker photo from my cell phone’ (5th stanza, 4th line), which contrasts the loving image of a couple in the sticker photo and the careless gesture in removing that souvenir.

2. Run-on line: there is a run-on line at the last line of the 4th stanza, which continues in the 1st line of the 5th stanza: ‘But recollections of what we went through / Kept growing fuzzier, as another / Now held my hand when watching movies…’ This helps to communicate the awkward transition of a teenager’s love from one person to the next.

3. Simile: to compare two dissimilar things - ‘Meanwhile, decrepit buildings got pulled down, like useless teeth / To make way for the new’ (6th stanza, 1st and 2nd line) – the destruction of old buildings is compared to the removal of ‘useless’ (decayed) teeth, to highlight the passage of time and the impatient, fast pace of urban life in a visual way.

4. Metonymy: a quality or feature of an entity that is used to substitute that entity. For example, ‘Excel’ is mentioned instead of spreadsheet (1st stanza, 2nd line) and ‘MSN messages’ is used instead of instant online chat messages (5th stanza, 2nd line) so that it sounds more contemporary and direct, to reflect the thinking process of a teenager.

5. Defamiliarisation: the Avian flu is described as ‘the sudden death of birds and closure of Mai Po’ (6th stanza, 4th line). This not only reflects the direct expression of a teenager, but the mentioning of sudden deaths also create a more serious tone for this part of the poem, which describes the poet’s growing up in adolescence.

Part III – Brainstorming and assignments (15 minutes)

Supposing you were to write a poem about the life of a housewife. In groups, brainstorm and come up with two sets of imagery that you think are relevant, taking into account the expected lifestyle, social sphere and concerns of a housewife.

Language

Tense

Past simple for a personal recount (reg/irreg. verbs) Modal auxiliary: Would + bare infinitive for past habits

Met, looked, offered, was, we’d go, fell sick, went, left, made

Other

Time expressions for recount

When (I still looked)

During weekends

When (Dad fell sick)

On … Sunday

For a year or so …

for two nights

Meanwhile

For months

Poet Bio

Jennifer Wong is a young Hong Kong poet and author of poetry collection Summer Cicadas.

She is delighted in the way poetry and travel connect, bridging distances and cultures.

She has participated in various poetry festivals and readings, including the Man International Literary Festival.