Chinese / Taiwan
Ke bu ke yi shuo
(Can we say?)
Xi Xi
(text)
Liu, Joanne
(illus.)
Taipei: Xiwang zhizao youxian gongsi (Hopology Publishing), 2025. – [42] p.
(Series: Xi Xi shi ji hui ben xi lie; 1)
ISBN 978-626-98257-6-9
Language | Picture book | Poetry | Norm | Rebellion
Reading age: 3+
White Ravens issue: 2026
»Ke bu ke yi shuo« pairs the literary imagination of the iconic late Hong Kong writer and poet Xi Xi (1937–2022) with the bold, whimsical visual storytelling of award-winning Hong Kong illustrator Joanne Liu. This celebrated poem has been adapted into a vibrant visual narrative where text and imagery engage in an entertaining exploration of language through a deceptively simple and rebellious poetic device: the deliberately incorrect assignment of measure words. By rearranging conventional phrases to name the world in unexpected ways, the poem subverts rigid grammatical norms and accustomed perspectives alike: »Can we say: A gourd of universe? A bloom of umbrellas? A bottle of Milky Way? A tail of an emperor?« Beneath this playful surface lies a more subversive intent to upend linguistic norms and question societal rules and world views. Joanne Liu’s imaginative illustrations bring this rebellion to life, transforming absurdity into acts of resistance against censorship, highlighting creative freedom and challenging hierarchies. [LO]