Forgetting

Forget about that time

I made you go.

Forget about what

I made you throw.

Forget about the images you see,

and the shadows you hear.

Forget about the bodies,

they simply got in the way.

Forget about the shrapnel

still stuck in your knee --

that's not pain you feel,

it's strength and honour.

Forget about that flag you wear

and try to forget

you were ever there.

Beijing Spring

Open wounds of revolution
weep through pages of scar literature.
Days of Red Guard youth
stand beside her like a shadow.

Liberal innovation was a cancer,
her life’s work, an open wound;

doors of perspective slammed shut.

The quiet mysteries of rural life
muted by Central People’s Broadcasting Station’s
authoritarian voice.
In the end four evils –
Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, Wang Hongwen.

Healing hands of Wei Jingsheng
were not idled by incarcerations.
From bursting clouds of hope,
rain drops fall in Beijing Spring.

The Perfect Photograph

Find the perfect photograph --

capture the air in black & white.

Sun's rays slipping through

blankets of clouds.

Afternoon's automobile shifts 

to evening,

as Van Gogh's stars fall out 

the back 

leaving sparkling eyes

scattered around the stardust.