Poem rewrite

E X P O S I T I O N


In a documentary on the Yellow River, the filmmaker charts progress, mapping changes shaped by Three Gorges Dam


follows “Jerry” Bo Yu Chen & “Cindy” Yu Shui

working-class laborers in China’s hospitality industry,

pleasure-boat tours of Old China catering to Westerners

Jerry & Cindy parroting, “It’s my pleasure.”

***

To prep for Beijing, I vaccinate, pack host gifts, check garments for holes & tears,

book a date at the beauty school where a fresh class of

trainees choose names like costume jewelry


Gwyneth & Eli; Emu & Stella

girls that cut curl & color

in the mirror I watch a woman

pluck a cell phone & cash

from her cleavage

***

In the desert far from water, a hotel rises out of the Gobi

Men in suits & pencil-skirted women

greet guests Good evening! Good morning!


Breakfast is on the roof.


The view of the Taklamakan as surreal as painted stage sets.

***

What’s not stocked at markets, off-season in May:


winter melon, new year’s lanterns, ripened pineapple





Banners touting Olympic tourism canvas streets.

***

Holidays, war, & packaged events produce Kong Ming candles

hand-scripted with prayers


wishes on display, I watch
witnesses disengage:

BBQ chefs tending cook-fires,
wait-staff lighting fuel cells
launch heart-shaped lamps – let go


***

the true & the staged

At midnight a white peony explodes in the sky
cascading waterfalls of magnesium and aluminum light
mark a marriage on the dunes

***

in a stand for relics
at Yonghegong Lamasery

glass cases brimming with sandalwood
beads, gemstone rosaries, peach pit coffers
open to reveal buddhas

miniature shrine boxes
small enough to palm

gold and silver structures

house the spirits
visual displays of religious
election


strung upon a silver chain: a prayer locket


***

love locked wedlock

young couples fastening commitment
the Great Wall shackling

miles of golden padlocks
bought from cultural management

keys tossed off
the birth of tourism
in the town of

Lovelock, Nevada
where old women & men
clasp to pets,
small children

***

this is adaptation:
traditions that comprise
a personal inheritance

what I want to understand:

that stainless banner on
the neighbor’s patio

stars & bars
the confederate flag

paired with deep blue
Asian lanterns, decorative hangings

emblazoned with the word “welcome”
hostility cloaked in politesse

the mind turning
to raise the banner
of windhorse