poetry

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King Cobra

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.

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Old Chokey Christmas

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.

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Writers in China

A poem by Anthony Tao

Fling a bottle any direction

and likely you’ll hit a writer

who thanks you

for the drink.

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Post Office

A poem by Rob Schackne

 

In China there's a post office

unmarked on maps, cellar-deep

where you can mail your dreams

(though you might wait for years)

 

True, they go out without a stamp

or an address, but someone gets them

and you know they get read, even

discussed before they vanish

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Fruit vendor

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.

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