Friends & flowers

On the occasion of our first meeting

Peach blossoms swaying like a drunk.
New branches on an ancient willow, green and tender.
Call forth my poet friends, add to their zeal.
This spring, opening ahead, the first voice. 

In Chicago, March 1991, we formed a poetry club. This was the inaugural meeting. I wrote five poems.

My mom taught me a cute set of 7 word phrases representing the cultured person vs. reality, or the maiden's dream vs. the housewife's daily life:

Music                      Firewood
Chess                     Rice
Calligraphy              Oil
Painting                  Salt  
Poetry                     Soy sauce
Drinking                  Vinegar
Flowers                   Tea

I made her laugh by saying it's true, I am the first list whereas my sister (who is married with four kids) is the second.

Flower Way

Thin green, wide red, kinds don't match.
Only one good flower surrounded by grass.
These once, after arranged by skilled hands,
Weeds and broken branches, now art, their former state surpass.

I went to a friend's house, who had a flower arrangement. This flower arrangement is a cultural thing, there are many schools of thought in arranging the flowers. 

Flowers and tea

Part 5 of the mid-autumn festival set

Spring flowers finished blooming, willow has new shoots.
Another spring bids farewell.
Next year the flowers will grow again,
But for people, their youth will not renew.
I pity the hundreds of flower, the flowers pity me;
Makes one confused and unsure.

Mao wanted to fool the people and said "hundreds of flowers, you can bloom now." meaning you can now criticize the government freely. "But you know what happened," adds my mom.

pu su1 mi2 li3 = confusing vague undefined ambiguous


Tea Ceremony School

This popular tea ceremony's heritage traces back to old origins.
Preparing flips and movements, water at just the right temperature.
Lift up tea cup, lower your head.
White-hair tending stove, her manner is dignified.

This tea methodology was received from China 500 years ago. Every tea ceremony has specific procedure and ritual: how you lift the cup, how you pour the tea, etc. Everything has a proper way.