Hi Colin,
I did get the China association and did guess it was a situation like you
described so I wasn't so far out. I forgot to say that I did like the last
line of the your poem. "Have some more of this seven treasure cake". This
shows the aunt's cautiousness as she tries to distract. bw 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: Re: Fw: newsub/curtain
>Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:58:53 +0100
>
>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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