poetry

A poem by Tim Tomlinson

The dog’s barking woke them –

a cobra had entered the house

and now, reared up, hood flared,

the snake stared down the barking dog,

who snapped and pawed and feinted. 

Roy, from Chicago, froze.

Winter in Beijing – festive verse by Kaiser Kuo

Ed: This poem appears in While We're Here, our anthology published this month by Earnshaw Books. Listen to editors Alec Ash and Tom Pellman talk to Kaiser Kuo about the Anthill, the book and China writing on this week's Sinica podcast

In winter all’s still, and the sun’s scanty rays

Filter downward in pewter and silvery grays.

I find myself strolling down memory hutong

To Beijing in winters when life was more putong.

A poem by Anthony Tao

Fling a bottle any direction

and likely you’ll hit a writer

who thanks you

for the drink.

A poem by Eleanor Goodman

He sleeps under a neon sky

beside his fruit.

When it rains, his roof

is the bamboo mat where he slept.

Dragonfruit, canary melon, loquat, sugar-apple. 

His rice bowl.