Spring Wants

The poet wants new curtains, please. Yellow and white, in a gingham print of medium squares; lined in white cotton. The light will stream through across the room and catch the duvet on the bed in a stroke of sunny warmth, The poet wants new curtains, please. New ones that don’t slump from hooks that

Twenty Auspicious Cranes

Twenty Auspicious Cranes, 1112 On the day after my birthday, 2013 The Emperor Huizong opened his palace to the ever-busy common folk. I sat on my bedroom floor. Twenty white cranes appeared flying in the sky; two alighted upon the palace gate. A brown-winged bird darted into my room; there he hovered, over my bed.