Fast Day 111 July 18 2009 Xinjiang {Susan from Xinjiang}

Susan from Xinjiang, Central Asia


My saffron beauty -
spicy, spicy is your skin!
hot, hot - a Xinjiang meal!
I will prepare, I skewer the meat,
and turn it slowly on my spit! -
my spit above your fire!

Your yellow skin -
tangy, tangy turmeric
I lie disconsolate until you come
to serve me up my ardent food!
a juicy pomegranate spiced
with lemon makes my mouth pucker!

Your hot tongue
burns me like a fragrant candle!
cinnamon pepper ginger flames
dancing on my lighted wick!
Xinjiang meal is very filling -
soon after I hunger again!

pix: alan1954

Fast Day 17 September 28, 2007 {Viewing Xiang Lake...}

Viewing Xiang Lake from the Pavilion of the Four Great Ministers


Yang Shi and Zhao Shanqi;
Gu Zhong and Guo Yuanming;
they created the lake
for benefit of farmers and
the people of the districts and townships.

The Sun and Wu usurped the lake
and built structures large
and illegal for themselves
and brought ill times and ruin to
the people of the districts and townships.

Weeds choke the water and lily pads are unseen.
The smoke from the kilns fills the air;
its odor is everywhere, night and day.
The Earth is changing;
The Times are out of joint:
In 1551 the plum trees of Xiaoshan
had oranges hanging from their boughs.
"If trees produce what is inappropriate,
farmers and citizens will be robbed."

The Ice no longer forms in the North;
great fires sweep across the plain in summer;
the sea is starving and whales have disappeared;
the Earth cries out to its Mothers, the light and the dark:
who knows what will happen?
War and its rumors are everywhere;
no one easily lays a head to one's pillow now.
The ministers no longer serve the people and
all government is up for sale.