[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997:
All Entries]

TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by Chris Song, are serialised in Cha beginning from Monday 25 September 2023.

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Platform Shoes
and Canvas Shoes

2/28

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Kwong and I moved here the day after Princess Diana’s death. Her passing had plunged Kwong into profound melancholy, mourning her loss as if it were a precious fingernail she had accidentally broken. While this was a deeply personal matter for her, I couldn’t entirely empathise. However, the moment she declared herself “not in the mood”, she promptly shifted all responsibility for the move onto my shoulders. Although the moving crew handled most of the heavy lifting, there were numerous smaller tasks demanding attention. On the day of the move, she chose to wear a pair of black open-toed, three-inch wedge sandals, seemingly intending to convey her expected role.

By mere chance, perhaps, her costly new shoes, acquired for a hefty six hundred dollars at a chic mall in Causeway Bay, became entangled in a clash with a pair of canvas sneakers. Following a brief skirmish, the wedge sandals transformed into platform shoes, while the platform shoes metamorphosed into sneakers. The wearer of the canvas shoes offered no apologies, apparently oblivious to the fact that her soft, slightly worn footwear possessed their own destructive potential. She chose not to engage in an argument either, well aware of her incompatibility with the neighbourhood housewives. On multiple occasions, when the housewives enthusiastically discussed the previous day’s TV dramas while waiting for the elevator, they would abruptly fall silent, and exchange pointed glances, gossiping as though she were the malevolent character who had just walked out of the show. Throughout the elevator ride, she had to keep her head down, striving to divert their attention away from her. No matter how cutting her wit could be, she couldn’t contend with the gossip of the masses.

I stood at the foot of the hill, looking up at her, who was slipping into her platform shoes. Three inches up, three inches down; three inches up, three inches down. She bowed, revealing her gym-trained back. Her light brown hair cascaded over her shoulders, veiling her expression. She made a futile attempt to readjust her “platform shoes”, hoping to restore them by forcefully pressing down on the wedge.

She soon gave in, however, admitting that matters like shoe soles were inevitable life experiences. Why did she wallow in melodramatic shoe sole sorrows? In practicality, she outshone me. When the moving crew sought her guidance on arranging the dressing table, she immediately came alive, assuming command with a flirtatious demeanour, her “platform shoes” now symbolising authority. Her resonant husky voice carried through the air, and even from the distant end of the street, I could discern every word with clarity.

How to cite: Song, Chris and Mary Wong. “Platform Shoes and Canvas Shoes.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 26 Sept. 2023, chajournal.blog/2023/09/26/shoes.

Mary Shuk-Han Wong 黃淑嫻 (author) is a Hong Kong writer. Her short story collection Surviving Central (中環人; 2013) received the “25th Secondary School Students’ Best Ten Books Award.” Her essay collections include How to Live the Sad Days (悲傷的日子如何過; 2021), Against the Grain (亂世破讀; 2017), and From Kafka (理性的遊藝：從卡夫卡談起; 2015). She has also published an online poetry collection, Cave Whispers (絕地抒情; 2022), in collaboration with Hong Kong composer and photographer. She was the co-producer and literary advisor of two literary documentaries: 1918: Liu Yichang (1918：劉以鬯紀錄片; 2015) and Boundary: Leung Ping Kwan (東西：也斯紀錄片; 2015).

Chris Song (translator) is a poet, editor, and translator from Hong Kong, and is an assistant professor in English and Chinese translation at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He won the “Extraordinary Mention” of the 2013 Nosside International Poetry Prize in Italy and the Award for Young Artist (Literary Arts) of the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. In 2019, he won the 5th Haizi Poetry Award. He is a founding councilor of the Hong Kong Poetry Festival Foundation, executive director of the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong, and editor-in-chief of Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. He also serves as an advisor to various literary organisations.

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