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.