High speed train destinations

China's high speed trains are so fast we found ourselves asking "We're here already?" instead of the typical "Are we there yet?" Amazing. The first weekend I was in Shanghai, Tiffany and I went to Suzhou.

In response to the Scene at Suzhou Train Station

Suzhou city lively post noisy honking hubbub
Glass towers crowded streets smiling bustling people
Fresh visitors posing clothing bright cell phones abound
Curiosity and interests satisfied hair still mostly black
City tour guides sell Humble Garden tickets
Stall blenders cheaply mix mango jelly drinks
Lilting warm spring breeze windows rolled down
Corner bench easy resting sun sets west

A road less traveled

Hengshan Road (In response to Beidang Road)

Languishing luxury, one mile of former grandeur
Cement-paved wide standard street named Hengshang
Dropping sycamores, dusty air struggling bowling alley
Swept plane trees, hopeful placards novelty gospel house
Signs still sideways, pinyin words
People's language tic-toc sounds, cotton voice
This area truly was the French concession
But could it be that I am in New Jersey?

Old Cypress Apartment

I visited Gubuo Gongyu three times while in Shanghai for ten days. It's where my mom lived from birth to ten years of age with her parents and two brothers. She remembers the courtyard garden in the middle of the apartment complex. Gubuo means old cypress.

In response to My Humble House

Simple ordinary life more than seven-tens' years*
Affordable rent paid to gain vogue location**

Oleander tree dusty green, leans over pavilion
Wisteria vine fragrant purple, cover back days

Dotted playground toys, shaded, often chatting neighbors
Corner home door ajar, afternoon scribbling poems

River ocean travel around finally arrive at insight
Spared much wind and rain, inherit peaceful living


*my mom turns 80 this year
**my friend asked what they pay in rent now, it's in a hip neighborhood--see coffee shop photo from three storefronts down the street.

Fumi Coffee down the street

Responses to Shanghai Parks

I went to People's Park and am not entirely sure it's the renamed Zhaofong park--there are many large parks with water features in Shanghai.

In response to Zhaofong Park

The swirl and noise inside People's Park,
Paved paths for moving around.
Manicured selected trees laced with green,
Murky dribbling water dull with disuse.*
Dropping red leaf strewn sidewalks, littered.
Crowded brown occupied benches, smoky.
At sunset the gates will shut:
This visiting guest's expectations are left disappointed.

*There was a dried up waterfall structure in the park that made me think perhaps this was Zhaofong since in my grandfather's notes to his poem, there seemed to be a waterfall in it.





In response to Waitan Park, No 2.

High rise digital flashing showoff spectacular dazzle
Ferries and barges move steadily, wakes flatten crud.
Gray promenade, hand machines**, selfie spots.
Many people excitedly sit, listening to the chattering tourists.

**the literal translation for cell phone in Chinese is hand machine. I used the term to parallel 'handrail' used in my grandfather's poem.

LJZ, XTD, BZD and other Shanghai acronyms

I was pleased to see all the subway signs in English/pinyin. It makes getting around so much easier. Also, I started to understand everyone's pinyin abbreviations--LJZ for Lujiazui (the Pudong neighborhood with the skyscrapers that make up the skyline that is extensively photographed from the Bund), XTD for Xintiandi (an upscale neighborhood in the FCC--former French Concession), and my self-coined acronym BZD for "bu zhi dao", or "I don't know." Tiffany, my friend, was not supportive of BZD but I persist in using it anyway as a slangy Chinglish counterpoint to IDK.

Went to dinner with friends. After eating, I wrote this. (In response to this poem.)

Cross the river, traffic and pollutants announce the rise of power.
Holding a wine glass while eating, what decadence, ha!
Must be dreaming of some experience unattainable,
Ask the waiter, "How do you get here?"*

*One of our friends didn't know how to get to the restaurant and called for help, unfortunately, none of us were able to help and we finally resorted to handing the phone to the waiter for help. 

Double dare

First time from across the Pacific Ocean, early afternoon at Huangpu River


Over Huangpu river, the midday haze* hovers
Mystery draws heart to go leisurely thinking
Red flags flutter a warning that lingers
Blue pants pausing seat, tears spring up
One shoulder totes words a thousand moons past**
Ten-thousand phones shutter glint, two moving barges
At Waitan dare to turn and look back
My loving ancestors*** gone to the new city


*I was amused that my weather app called the polluted air "foggy"
**one thousand months is a bit over 83 years, about the time my grandfather would have written the poem I wrote this in response to (1932)
***I so appreciate that my grandpa had an emotional connection to my grandmother. I really wished we could have traveled together. I think it would have been so fun.

Seeing Wusong Again for the First Time

Shanghai was really great. I loved being there, it was so comfortable and surprisingly clean, and full of imagined memories.

First Seeing Wusong (In response to Seeing Wusong)


Wusong waters slink along, brown.
Riverbank trees unlike my hometown.
Shanghai fills all the air,
He lived here once, for a decade.
Felt strange across the Pacific Ocean--
People say I've traveled much,
Inside is full and longing.
Why did you come back?
Start down bone-flesh roads.

alternate last two lines:

When will he come back?
Gone up heaven-bound streets.

My view straight across from where I wrote this response.

Sentiments on sentiments

I finally went to Shanghai. Got back three days ago and it's 12:30am in Seattle and I am wide awake. While I was there, I went to visit Suzhou and Hangzhou just like the saying goes. 

Response to touring Xi Hu (West Lake)




No. 1 with Tiffany

Speaking of renowned beauty, riding police car,
Still remember singing praises with you in NYC.
Spanish tourist, Italian hotties, relishing dessert happiness.
Laughter, language, walk, play--both forget losses.

My friend Tiffany, whom I met at Times Square Church and who has been living in Shanghai for the past few months, and I tried to visit Hangzhou but I forgot my passport and she lost her wallet so we spent the day dealing with taxi drivers, taking the subway back and forth to the train station, and the police report. On one of the subway rides, we met a Spanish man traveling with an Italian man and chatted with them. The previous day, we had had lovely dessert. I had imagined myself on a boat snacking with her in honor of my grandma's poem, but it wasn't meant to be.

No. 2 with myself

Hearing of famous lake aboard crowded ferry.
Still remember pacing hallways, hands clasped behind your back.
Purple flowers, yellow pineapple, munching snack happiness.
Laughter, foreign mother's tongue, sit, think: remember what could have been.

The next day, Tiffany had to work but I really wanted to visit Hangzhou before I left, so I went by myself. Since I was by myself, no one would rent me a boat and I resorted to boarding a crowded boat with about forty other tourists. At one point, everyone was talking so loudly, I laughed because we couldn't hear the guide at all.

It was actually my maternal grandmother who paced the hallways but this is sort of an ode to all my grandparents since I never really got to know them while they were alive.

Past due

[found this in my draft posts from 2012...assume it's my grandmother's]

Last night, I woke from my dream thinking about the past.
From before time, there is sweetness among the bitterness.
Now, getting old, so sad and lonesome:
Waking up is not as sweet as dreaming.

1979 January one midnight I woke up and wrote this poem

Shanghai Parks

Because I'm going to Shanghai this week, I asked my mom to translate two more poems from my grandfather's Huangpu (Shanghai) chapter.

Prosperous Abundant Park 

The dust and noise inside the city,
Cleared land for roaming around.
Dense wooded trees thick with green,
Clear pooled water ripple with waves.
Dropping red* flower-lined path, winding.
Spreading green grassy lawn, wide.
At sun set the gates will shut:
And visiting guests' enthusiasm are left unsatisfied.  

Shanghai is heavily populated, everywhere there's a lot of people. So the government decided to build a series of parks, of all the parks, Zhaofong Park is the biggest. It's very pretty and whenever you go there, you don't want to leave.

*Hear the night wind,
how many flowers dropped

Waitan [Outside the banks (of the river)] Park

No. 2
High rise electric flashing showoff spectacular dazzle.
Vessels and ships move quick, wakes stirup foam.
Green lawns, handrails, resting spots.
Many people leisurely sit, listening to the lapping water. 

All the powerful institutions and centers of government were in the Waitan neighborhood.