“Arrival“
Beyond the wing, mountains
etched with lightning.
For fifteen hours, we’ve flown
over people’s days,
seeing little but gangs of clouds,
the inky calligraphy of rivers,
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“While Someone Is Talking”
I startle, catch at the image
of all those firefighters
in Hong Kong movies
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“Rain”
In China it is raining.
Water and dust make a brown soup,
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“The You of China”
Do not wear gloves.
Even if the wind is terrible,
is inside you, do not,
for you need your hands
for all the days’ work–
to plant, to carry, to cut
beets into lattices
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“Two Views”
Why Are the Girls So Beautiful
Li Bai. Li Yu. The classic Chinese poets
always found the lasting image;
the moon a silver hook,
the moon a boat wandering the sky
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“Equal Opportunity”
In China, you can go to Mass
in a French-built, crumbling church,
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“Hallucinate, Flu, Tiananmen Square”
Thermometer, watch–on the bedside stand.
I take my temperature as I can, while
time flies out of the window, coils sprung, hours
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“Mao Blue”
Are the rayon labels on jacket arms,
which announce a purchase and a value,
true capitalist hearts worn on the sleeve?
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“Arrival in Retrospect”
It is a child’s belief
that if you fall into
the deepest hole in the ground
and keep going, descending
through earth’s molten center Read more…
Three Girls © Robert Meier
Questions in the Interview from Rob Schmitz and Dai Xiaohong