Sensation of taste

Nainai's 4 groups of 4 lines of 7 words
- Ma que is the common southern name for the game known as mahjong
- 'salty' here means tasty, flavorful

Old folks happy song
One day in June, a bunch of old folks gathered together and wrote poems about the gathering


Getting old one’s life dealings bland thin 
     Good we've salty poems sense of taste 
     Otherwise all day we'd pace back forth
     And feel bored lonely like wayside flower
Still beats following the crowd chaotic busyness
     In contrast we laugh to rid loneliness
     Four rounds of maque pass a day
     Drink wine happy chat in midst joy
Leisure time spend watching several tv shows
     Also helps us know what's going on
     So we can have something to say
     Unlike country hicks sitting in the corner
Events whether big small pay no heed
     To avoid being annoying to children grandchildren

     My song to advise old aged people
     Follow this to have peace and happiness

Gonggong's 8 lines of 7 words

- Jen cang is probably another name for the city

- Chinese folk songs often sing of longing for time of peace to have a chance to harvest

- Zen Gong (also called Zi Gu) is a Classical author who wrote a famous essay about certain cities

Nanfeng (name of a city)

Our bank moved here and several of us toured the streets. We saw destruction everywhere and the peasants around were very poor. Lets you imagine the scene after the war.

Jen cang one path grass all over

War aftermath surrounding area enough to show

Wilderness graves destruction still smoking feel terror

Plow fields light rain joy tilling land

Special fragrant sweetness of Nan feng oranges

Forceful sentences impressive articles Zi Gu's writing

Written words lack inspiration oranges not ripe

By mountain lie down little stream clouds

Strange fruit

Not an evident theme this week, so I just noted that both include strange fruit references.


Nainai's 4 lines of 7 words
- There is a Chinese saying: "Upwards has heaven, downwards has Su Hang" referring to Suzhou and Hangzhou which are two places famous for scenery and natural beauty. 
- Xihu "West Lake" in Hangzho, also known as Xijihu, related to Xishi who was one of the four great beauties who worked as a spy, is a classic muse for poets.
- 'ching-yo' is a word that means a friend that you're related to, so I translated it as 'family-friend' not to mean a friend of the family, but a friend that is family. As my mom and I joked, not all relatives are friends.
- My mom said slicing a lotus root is very interesting, there are long thin strands like threads that stretch and are sticky. There is a saying about these strands "root cut strands stay" that is used to describe situations like divorced people still entangled.
- Like me, you may wonder what a caltrop is, so I have included a photo for your benefit. Aren't they amazing? They are pods that grow underwater and have an edible inner white flesh similar to water chestnuts.

Sentiments on touring West Lake with my family-friend


Speaking of famous lake aboard small dingy
Still remember picking caltrops with you visiting
Red caltrops white roots munching treat happiness
Laughter dialect dance play both forget sadness





Gonggong's 4 lines of 7 words
- 'cuen' is homophone for spring and village
- old Chinese money were coins with holes so you could string them together and wear them. There is a saying: better to have 1 skill than to wear 10,000 coins around your waist

Apricot Peak Village
During Japanese occupation, at one point I had to leave the capitol Nancang where I was working and flee to a little city where I rented a large house with some tens of colleagues from two banks. This village was very poor and had old barren trees, none of which were apricot. I never knew why this village was named Apricot Peak, but I did learn that the house was owned by a man named Liu who had made a fortune in the salt business in Yanzhou. He rented out this newly built huge house in this poor village, while he himself lived in his old house.


Ancient trees stubby walls all become neighbors
Mountain front no more apricot blossom spring
Old man Liu ten-thousand coin girded waist weight
Newly built high rise rent other people


Personal notes:
- I love that my grandma liked to snack and be on the water: two of my favorite activities. In fact, this past weekend I got to kayak and make drinks with the precious juice from dozens of tiny squeezed-by-hand key limes--I only squeezed some, my friends squeezed the rest.
- Though my grandfather's poem isn't very emotional or insightful, it is interesting that he had to live with his colleagues for a bit. Nothing like bonding in wartime with the cubicle-mates. Related anecdote for me is that while in line at the grocery store, wondering if one can self-checkout booze, the woman in front of me turned around and said, "Irene?" It was my new boss. I start in a few weeks at Copacino+Fujikado.

Fun with old friends

On Memorial Day weekend, I attended to (read: bridesmaid) my dear old friend Shannon for her wedding in Virginia. It was lovely and funny and not too unlike the sentiments these two poems express: fondness so abiding you can poke fun.

[Nainai's 4 lines of 7 words
- bamboo stem is homophone for celebrate
- after a standard form bamboo poem
- possibly associated with the previous poem about her nephew]

Regarding bamboo stems

Bamboo stem poem is well wishing bade
Thinking back that year we two played
Turn eyes same also changed white hair
Laughing talk nice things so perfectly met


[Gonggong's 4 lines of 7 words
- a face like a peach blossom is usually something said of a woman]

Teasing Gong Li Yi
My friend Gong who worked in Fuzhou, Fujian province, was very handsome and proud of his good looks. "My face is like a peach blossom," he would say. I wrote this poem because one day he had a bad sore on his cheek and he went to the doctor. The procedure done left a scar on his face. I wrote this poem to tease him. We were old friends from Nancang, along with two others, the four of us were very close. The other two were scattered and only Mr. Gong was near.

I might half hide good looking face
Broken cheek feels like a broken melon
Remains of wound scar one red mark
On profile always wear small peach blossom