111 - SPECIAL EDITION recorded at STS Studio in Fukuoka, Japan. One person. One month. One city. A poetry collection approaching 60 pieces. Here I share some of my early drafts plus a bit of poetry discovered on the journey. I return to Hong Kong in April

// 弱さを隠すその嘘で、あなたがあなたを奮い立たせられるなら、私はいつまでも、目をつぶっていよう。力強いその声が私を呼び覺ますこと知っている // -Yui Shiroma

// There is a truth in that smooth indifference, a clean honesty about our otherness that feels not like the moral, but the story // -Ada Limon

Link to exhibition by Anton Hersche

Technical production of this episode is by Ryota Takeya @ ⁠STS

Hidden tracks can be heard if you tune in via my Mixcloud channel ⁠www.mixcloud.com/atomicheart⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more on my aspirations in radio and poetry, please visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Atomic Heart is curated and presented by Atom Alicia.

110 - My last recording at Mei Ho House till who knows when. I bring you the 100th and final piece from my hundred consecutive days of prose poetry writing. I also read 'If you happen to be swimming in the same ocean', which appears in my full-length manuscript Forty-One Frames. The poem muses on the architectural rhythm of MHH juxtaposed with a tune I used to love and still love. And it's only fitting that the sentiment is capped by a reading of Cavafy's 'Ithaka'.

All this, before I depart for a month-long writing retreat in Fukuoka, Japan. The show will resume after I return to Hong Kong in April.

This edition is only available as a podcast.

For more on my aspirations in radio and poetry, please visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Atomic Heart is curated and presented by Atom Alicia.

109 - We're into the final home stretch. This is the last radio installment recorded at my studio in Mei Ho House. I'll do a final episode here next week. That'll be uploaded exclusively to the podcast channels prior to graduation day. As usual, I bring you a sparkling line-up of featured poets, here are today's...

// I thought of facing a fallen tree: its robust aerial roots, my hair loosening from a bun, the jellyfish on my back formed an orgy of symmetries // -Tim Tim Cheng

// 別人說這是晴天 / 人世間的荒誕便像圖釘般 / 鋪灑在你家門前了 // -池荒懸

For the full version of the show aired on CFMS 105.9 FM, go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.mixcloud.com/atomicheart⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Playlist: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠

Atomic Heart is curated and presented by Atom Alicia.

108 - On a day after I found clarity on the ceiling, I give you an account of a stranger's memories, how distant rooftops are composed, and shoelaces that tighten just enough without impeding the wanderlust. Today's featured poets are as follows~

// Each day brings more bad weather, which is another way of saying I'm in my sixties // -George Bilgere

// 然後帶著它流浪城市每個邊緣的起點 / 走一個圈子兩個方框無數的多邊形 / 放在長椅上擱在圓池旁或無形的荒境 // -洛楓

For the full version of the show aired on CFMS 105.9 FM, go to: ⁠⁠⁠www.mixcloud.com/atomicheart⁠⁠⁠⁠

Playlist: ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm⁠⁠⁠

Atomic Heart is curated and presented by Atom Alicia.

107 - We are slowly recovering from the festivities of the new lunar year where snakes have been characterized in all sorts of lovable manners. Despite exhaustion we continue to show up even late at night. Today's featured poets are as follows~

// I begin to make of my life a meditation, the life I tried to rid myself of for so long -- even as a fly on the windowsill scrubs its face with brisk motions and down the hall a door... // -Evelyn Lau

// 日子持續，我們循規蹈矩 / 年之將盡，我們充滿盼待 / 且不誠實地許願 -- / 日子規矩地重來 // -鄭詠詩

For the full version of the show aired on CFMS 105.9 FM, go to: ⁠⁠www.mixcloud.com/atomicheart⁠⁠⁠

Playlist: ⁠⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm⁠⁠

Atomic Heart is curated and presented by Atom Alicia.

106 - Atom reads Rilke again, exactly five years on.

Five years ago, I moved into this building with aspirations of writing a book like this. Today, the book is finished.

// There is no measuring with time, not even a year matters, and ten years are nothing. To be an artist means: to neither reckon nor count; to ripen like the tree, which does not rush its sap, and stands firm in the storms of spring, without anxiety that summer may not come after. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there, as if eternity lay before them, so carelessly silent and vast. I learn it daily, learn it with pain, am grateful for it: Patience is all! // - Rainer Maria Rilke

PHOTO: backside of Mei Ho House. Room 524 was where this project started. Its balcony is shown on the upper left.

Atomic Heart is curated and presented by Atom Alicia.

For more on my aspirations for radio and poetry, please visit www.atomicheart.fm

Beds: ‘Summer’ by Cookies for My Dog, ‘Loving You’ by LASYA, ‘Stars’ by Stefano Mastronardi, ‘The Journey Home’ by Yoav Ilan

105 – This edition commemorates five years since the day I uploaded audio to this podcast channel for the very first time. This audio blog began in early 2020. Its earliest episodes were recorded in my studio which, at the time, was on the fifth floor of Mei Ho House with a wide window facing the colourful Block 22 on the opposite side of Pak Tin Street. Today’s featured poets are as follows~

// ...rooftops prodding the sky with not urgency, but an obscure, unrequited and not entirely inexplicable desire. Overnight, traffic resumed, aired socks could be used anew and a book left face-up blew to the next chapter in the breeze // -Katharine Kilalea

// 人相交時想像 / 是鷹是蛇是熊 / 是蜥蜴不想像 / 人 。這是性與 / 色之別但太陽 / 文明大愛無色 // -游靜

For the full version of the show as aired on CFMS 105.9 FM,

Playlist: ⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm⁠⁠

Beds: ‘Summer’ by Cookies for My Dog, ‘Loving You’ by LASYA, ‘Stars’ by Stefano Mastronardi, ‘The Journey Home’ by Yoav Ilan

104 – It feels as if I’m dreading the countdown to graduation. I know the pain will lessen once I’m out of here but it’s also possible it goes away by me not talking about it not thinking about it. It had to happen, and I’m so ready for what’s next. Today’s featured poets are listed below~

// There must be a body / which is also a portal / that brings us / back to ourselves / I imagine a new word for home / a new place of belonging / one that remains untethered to grief // -Jason Bayani

// 一張紙上面有 / 一首忘記了的詩 / 愛已遺失了在遇到之前 / 沒有名字的岸 // -阮志雄

For the full version of the show aired on CFMS 105.9 FM,go to www.mixcloud.com/atomicheart⁠

Playlist: ⁠www.atomicheart.fm⁠

Beds: ‘Summer’ by Cookies for My Dog, ‘Loving You’ by LASYA, ‘Stars’ by Stefano Mastronardi, ‘The Journey Home’ by Yoav Ilan

103 - Because the park is located at a dead-end, no one really passes by. They all come for some kind of purpose, each with their own initimate drama.

// He opens his arms, feeble, ambivalent arms bereft of any courage or expression, yet the extension of such arms is sadly enough to keep her. I hate those arms. They look like arms I once owned. I would be told, much much later on, that a hug is all it takes //

Atomic Heart is presented by Atom Alicia

For more about my current projects and my radio show, visit ⁠⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm

102 - Snowman held on till the very end. He's now been replaced (by Lunar New Year decorations). That first piece was an attempt at conceptualizing the graduation trip. All three pieces were written in the backyard where the snowman held on till the very end.

// They each deserve a special coat. I came to this decision while lying in bed. I faced the right which is the window and the outside and the kind of sun that warms you without making you squint. I took out the coats I thought would make a good fit //

Atomic Heart is presented by Atom Alicia

For more about my writing and my weekly radio show, visit ⁠⁠www.atomicheart.fm