It is 8:14pm in Linfen on Wednesday
the day before Thanksgiving, yes
it is 2006 and I been eating dumplings
because we invited Yoko for dinner
at 5.55 and then we drank green tea
by the thimble full
we spoke of America's wars and
laughed at Audie Murphy's heroics
in another time / the alternatives
for America now : drop the stick,
teach others to use the stick, or
weild a bigger stick
more dumplings for lunch tomorrow
and I read my email to the strains of
Charlie Haden's _American Dream_ and check
out Max's poem, Sharon's site, Patrick's
witty words, and Australia's sources
for residencies next year
8.27 for tomorrow I plot a Word Sleuth
for my Western Media students to
search out English words / stick
my nose out the window to feel
the big chill - tomorrow below zero / with
perhaps my first snow
only white for a minute before
it turns black / before the sludge
dirties the streets and campus paths
of ancient Linfen / China Daily re-
ports again the Chairman's latest
state visitor and China's
NBL basketball hero's chances for
the Beijing Olympics 2008 / and read
on Google news the Thorpedo has
retired from the pool / only so much
gold can hang around your neck / and
wonder when poets retire?
we give Yoko a keyring with Australia
on it / a koala sunning itself on the beach /
I write between the flags to avoid
the censor's shark-like stealth / living
it up in the foreign teachers' ghetto
with a thimble of green tea
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
http://www.bam.com.au/andrew
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