Sally,

Perhaps this poem is unintelligible for most and if I were reading rather
than writing it, then I might find it unintelligible too. So no points for
Colin there.  I suppose it assumes familiarity with how things have been in
China in recent decades. I'm not sure that it would be wise for me to launch
into a huge explanation; suffice to say that the Aunt and Uncle have
successfully returned from a period of enforced exile. The Uncle figure
chunters on just like he always did and the Aunt has become a cautious
person. The Uigers are a muslim ethnic minority group living in the
Westernmost province of China (Xinjiang) and make frequent but unsuccessful
claims for independence, a bit like the Chechen relationship with Russia
perhaps.

Colin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sally James" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 12:32 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: newsub/curtain


> Colin well I have read this a few times and I like it but don't know
whether
> "I get it" or not though so may have to have the poem explained to me.
Seems
> like auntie and uncle know more about the mountains than the narrator
which
> gives the sense of a secretive place full of dreams and mystiscism. I like
> the title of curtains and can imagine the place in my mind's eye. Sally J
>
>
> >From: hui dewar <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Fw: newsub/curtain
> >Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 21:36:30 +0100
> >
> >*indicates beginning and end of italics.
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "hui dewar" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 9:31 PM
> >Subject: newsub/curtain
> >
> >
> > >   I don't know if the italics will come through on this - let's try.\\
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Bamboo curtain (=Title of poem)
> > >
> > >
> > > "You're fit at sixty", I shout
> > >
> > > as Uncle and Aunt
> > >
> > > disappear uphill
> > >
> > > through the bamboo forest.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > *"That's from Xinjiang",*
> > >
> > > Uncle laughs as I catch up.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > *We were shepherds in the Tienshan mountains
> > >
> > > for thirty years - our punishment.
> > >
> > > I'd said what I thought at the time
> > >
> > > and my wife was from a rich family.*
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > All day we have no view.
> > >
> > > Bamboo on either side
> > >
> > > thins to a thicket of oak
> > >
> > > at altitude.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On the way down
> > >
> > > Aunt holds my daughter's hand
> > >
> > > and with her stick plumbs
> > >
> > > the green pipes for sound.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Then hazy valleys converge
> > >
> > > and bamboo breaks
> > >
> > > for tea and winter greens.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > At home, Uncle insists,
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > *"You should go to Xinjiang.
> > >
> > > You'd love it there: blue sky,
> > >
> > > mountains, snow for months at a stretch."*
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > "And the Uigers?" I enquire,
> > >
> > > but Aunt cuts in with lowered eyes,
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >* "You are a young man
> > >
> > > and you're very interested in politics.
> > >
> > > Have some more of the seven- treasure cake."*
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > __________________________________
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Colin
>
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