The China Experience
Eight poems about going to China
Eating In Yiwu China
I look for a restaurant with english
and if I can’t find one I look for at least menu pictures on the wall
until I find one with price numbers printed in the corners
and then walk in and point on the wall and give the money
and see what comes out.
Hemisphere Strangers
on the top of leifeng pagoda up seven flights of stairs
an old chinese man looking half mummified already
huffs his way slowly to the top bracing his cane on each step
and arrives finally at the highest floor and laughs at himself
and taps his cane on the ground a couple satisfied times
and sees me a young american sharing the view
and he smiles at me and says something and beams
and I smile back and point and smile again
and he wanders off to the other side another cardinal direction view
and I wonder which is more beautiful
the horizon of topographical serenity
