Samantha Symonds: ‘A Song for Sour Plums’
Tju-tju Symonds reading by Samantha Symonds’ ‘A Song For Sour Plums’
旅行梅
We eat sour plums on the highway
I give you my palm for seeds
You kiss my hand
Li hing mui
As I toe away the kickstand
We drift between parallel lines
Where I'm just an extension of your spine
Huà méi
Or was that your rib, my Adam
Apple of my eye, atom of my atom
Taking another stone from the heart
hwamei
And prising your bones apart
A door through your cage
Where we scream, love, cry
画眉
Of war paint,
A little late
For the halos of our eyes
老婆梅
Both sad and wise
Am I your wife or bird
Anyway, what's in a word?
Glossary and Notes
旅行梅: Characters for Li hing mei, a dried plum though directly translated as ‘travelling plum’
Li hing mui: Pinyin for 旅行梅
Huà méi: Pinyin for 話梅 another ‘synonym’ of dried sour plums, whose direct translation is more related to speaking, or the quenching of thirst.
hwamei: English name for a type of songbird (Garrulax canorus) - the Chinese hwamei
画眉: Characters for Hwa mei, which directly translated means painted brow
老婆梅: Characters for Lao po mei, when directly translated means ‘wife’s plum’
Samantha Symonds (she/her) is a freelance writer, marketer, dive instructor, and foodie.
British-Chinese, she has lived on four islands, speaks three languages, studied under two of her idols (Will Self and Benjamin Zephaniah) and once accidentally visited a triad clubhouse. Her award-winning writing has featured internationally in print and online in publications including The Financial Times, Sentinel and Dead Beats.
She is currently quelling her wanderlust by writing her first book and naming future pet dogs. Dashi and Gatsby would appreciate you commissioning her at samanthasymonds.com
Follow her twitter at @samxsymonds