Post-grads

[Mildly frustrated because, since my parents' computer is on the fritz, I just posted my draft to blogger an was going to edit it at home. Normally I save it on a word doc and email it to myself. Don't know what I did but the text was deleted. I'm composing this from memory. Can't remember the rest of Nainai's poem so I'll update this post later]

Third week in a row where a theme has emerged. My mom reads the next poem in my grandmother's book and selects one from my grandfather's book and voila there happens to be a theme. None so obvious as this week's. But very funny the opposing evaluations of the worth of these degrees.

Nainai's 4 lines of 5 words:
- Though my last name in American English is Yung, phonetically it's Rong in pinyin--like "row" with an "ng". A small family name in Chinese, far from the big family names like Wang or Chen or Lee.
- Jing is my dad. I know last week I told you Suen was my dad. Jing is his given name whereas Suen is his ordinal name. Ask me if you're still confused. Plus then I'll know you're reading.

House of Rong Sings Praises
Blessing Wealth Long-life Honor
Son Jing got his PhD and I am so glad. I know his father is smiling down from heaven.

Against doorframe wishing your return
Quick quick return talk else
Day day family joy incomplete
Someday remembrance difficult old house

Gonggong's 8 lines of 5 words
- Wusong is the name of the port at the mouth of the Yangze river, the entry to Shanghai
- The Yangze, also known as Changjiang, is not to be confused with Huanghe (Yellow River) but is yellow from silt just the same.
- In the last line of the poem, he quotes a phrase from a classic poem to mean he's been everywhere and seen a lot of things.
- in the description--which I saw tonight comes after the poem, he uses the phrase 'closer to home anxiety grows' that is from a classical poet who talked about the paradoxical emotions one experiences when returning home after a long time. I know that feeling.

Seeing Wusong

Wusong waters turn to yellow
Riverbank trees like my hometown
Shanghai is around the bend
I lived there once briefly
Felt lonely across East Sea
People say I've done much
Inside is empty and vain
What did you bring back?
Gone down sky-breadth roads

After graduating from business school in Tokyo, I took a boat back home. The closer I got to home, the more anxiety I felt. I wanted to write a poem to express my feelings, unfortunately this poem still doesn't fully portray them.