Archeology of Desire
Red Hen Press, Los Angeles, 2001
previous page | next page

From Pietown, one long antenna
Can track the universe shift red, away from us.
Globe willows turn green
Down by the river
Spring is back.
--from "Magdalena"

Barrier Gate
for K.L.
I'm glad you're still alive
Hiking boots coated in the mud
Of someplace far off and cold
Where women sell tangerines in piles,
Eels swim in tanks
on the fishmarket floor,
Artificial plastic trees
Bloom for blocks in the underground arcade
Among blue silk flowers and real red roses.
You do not throw the I Ching
Or learn the national language
You do not visit temples
But cook your own noodles
Pack and unpack the single room.

We always wanted to see a corpse
Tried to get into the dissecting room
But were refused, weren't medical students
Missed the cadaver
The corpse we saw together
Was my husband in a box too big for UPS
You pointed to the smoke rising
Over the parking lot, and said
Take a good look
Take a really good look
You might want, someday
To write this down.

What is it Wang Wei said
I stand at the barrier gate
Now you are moving into the past.
I cried at those words
Moving west on the silk route--
The time you were sick
The Chinese doctor took your pulse,
A woman traveling alone,
Said: poor thing, she has no friend.
The doctor was wrong.
You braid your hair into an ideogram
Your hair speaks a second language
Your ten toes are spaced out neatly
Ready to keep walking.

back to top