Today I fell into my puppy’s freshly dug hole
It was a long grimy terrifying fall
I woke up six hours later in Beijing with a broken leg
Broken China is the second solo and final album by Pink Floyd’s keyboardist Richard Wright – it is a concept album based on Richard’s then wife Mildred’s battle with depression
Broken China
02/02/2025
Breaking water ripples beneath the moon,
A night of a thousand furry toys
scattered across the floor of her mind—
foggy fear tugs at the fringes,
like a runaway tide,
gripping her heart with cold hands.
The world feels more and more
like unfair ground,
her little ark lost in the black cloud,
drifting too far from the lighthouse,
unable to find safe shores.
She is a woman of habit,
But tonight, her norm is shattered
there is no respite
Only the drone of endless waves
Of expectations crushing over her.
Drowning,
Yet straining to reach the rail
that never seems to appear.
The blue room empty of light,
longing for radiant times
that never come—
she waits, desperately
fighting for a breakthrough
unsought, weight of hope
elusive as a butterfly
My puppy Beau is digging his way to China
At the rate he is going, we should fall into Bejiing in a week.
Best kept secret in China
When the Bangiao dam collapsed
No one told for a long time
This was 1975, before people had computers or an internet
240, 000 people died that day, and no one told.
Best kept secret in China
Mountain people in China
Never waste their plants
Whether bamboo or banana
They utilize the whole plants
From roots to stalks
Leaves and fruits
To create sellable products
They handmade bamboo
Arts and crafts
They are one of the most
Creative and industrious
People of the world.
Celestial beauty
Lighting up the world
Little glamor sublime
Marvel my love jewelry
Her stuff full packed
Come home quickly
Walk around and shine
Gorgeous body she'll be.
China has many that believe in Jesus
Some are underground and move
Around by the leading of the Holy Spirit
In the past the Lord called Watchman Nee
And as a result many after him
Fell to their knees and praised God but today
China has committed a diabolical error
By rewriting the Bible and
Trying to make Jesus a murderer
The terror will be seen in their land!
God’s promises are real and revelations
Will transform the land
Jesus cannot be stopped in China
He will save many Chinese individuals
China has many that believe in Jesus
Some are underground and move
Around by the leading of the Holy Spirit
Revelation 22: 18-19
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
manifest destiny
pros say 'tain't reasonable expecting
change overnight involving much money
besides military needs more funding
to destroy north bear and make days sunny
peace is not exceptional agenda
when free market needs secret stimulus
what you expecting us to surrenda
this for your edu-loans medicare plus
an endless list of green infrastructure
yielding us nothing but more inflation
count your blessings get new jobs' their lecture
enlist now if you love our great nation
do well not to breathe or call it all greed
just believe china's slow printing out need
China on the boom
On steels, chips, tapes and tiles
That burst into bloom.
I've almost forgotten it.
It got too big -
holes appeared,
entire towns fell through
my memory.
The Forbidden City
is a convoluted red and gold ribbon,
my mind cannot now untangle.
Images float off the ink
of curling maps.
Snapshots flutter
like flags in a desert sky.
I recall in parts and pieces:
middle-aged couple’s street dancing,
no revolutionary strutting,
just Quickstep, Foxtrot,
and Bossa Nova.
The young watching,
taking notes, as if
studying for an exam.
A small one-armed boy,
riding a peddle bike,
weaving through traffic,
four black cormorants strapped to his back,
their necks craning out of their wicker cage,
like sight-seeing dogs.
A quick look at Mongolia
through a hole in the Wall.
China got loose,
it escaped the hotels,
the tour buses, the itinerary.
It went down a crowded alley,
draped with roast ducks,
and paper lanterns.
If I were now to follow it,
it might lead me,
to a restaurant in London,
San Francisco, or Toronto,
or like today
come together again,
in the eyes of a girl
who sells me a smart phone.
(a story in senryu stanzas)
I get migraines.
- lucky me - glare can set me
off within seconds.
I always have a
pair of dark, polarized shades
with me - it’s a quirk.
When I was fourteen,
we lived in Shenzhen, China
very near Macau.
Macau, China, the
“Las Vegas” of Asia, is
the home of glare.
The Ritz-Carlton, has
a glittering galaxy
of bright chandeliers.
Those chandeliers move,
their silhouettes change shape - just
stab me with a spork.
Did I mention the
Mirrors? Every wall served to
magnify the light.
“You look awful,” my
mom said - our two week booking
became ten minutes.
“I just need sunnies,
those would work,” *then I gasped*
“I’ll look glamorous!”
We changed hotels, but
what a small world - my roommate
Leong grew up there.
We could have passed in
the yè shì as teenagers
and now we're roommates.
.
.
sunnies = sunglasses (UK slang)
yè shì = night market (simplified Chinese)
Land of the seas and glorious sunshine
Sparkling Pearl of the Orient Sealine
Strategically and truly well-placed
This great country's sun-kissed islands are laced
Lined up with palm fronds and coconut trees
salubrious climate that drives cool breeze
Pearls of Heaven lay scattered in the sea
Are the beautiful islands that we see
Historic past meets glorious future
Modern Philippines is poised to feature
Advancement in science, technology
Coupled with the country's topology
The common man is honest and simple
Hard work and forbearance is the symbol
Tributes to the great hero Jose Rizal
Somehow nation's progress is a puzzle
There are some problems that are hard to solve
But Philipino spirit can resolve
Economic revival it may face
With certain ingenuity and grace
I saw it there and stopped for a while,
perched dainty at the top of the pile
of crockery, grubby, crazed and old
at the yard sale, waiting to be sold.
A teacup; white dots on baby blue;
the same my mother would sip her brew
of pale Earl Grey, in her Sunday best,
though only on days we had a guest;
usually her mother, my gran.
On matching plate, a strawberry flan
they ate, poured more tea, smoked cigarettes
talked about their woes and rising debts.
Other times, the cups were put away
in a glass cabinet, on display.
My sister and I would take them out
pour pretend tea from the teapot’s spout.
We always thought our mother didn’t know
she did; we found out a while ago.
“How much for the old blue cup,” I say
“ten cents,” he said, took it right away.”
Spring in Beijing
Alexander Bugh
The once was a man who walked in Beijing
He walked and he walked admiring the spring
The flowers started to bloom and trees to green
The lake was defrosting, a wonderful sight to be seen
But the poor blind man saw not a thing.
KJV: Isaiah 2:4, " ... they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:" ... by Isaiah son of Amoz re last days of Judah & Jerusalem
Insomuch, the northern rains be as brief,
and the winds tear the southern plains relief,
sobeit, that the realm is the victim,
and the seas rise as victor; its dictum,
praise be not the state claim of righteous earned,
challenge naught by singularity spurned,
howbeit, by a greater force yon ours,
deliver its wrath on the land it scars,
then sheath the swords of heartless warriors,
in their mildness find besprent carriers,
and restore the misty dew dawn's embrace,
while tethering the plains a moistures grace,
and hail the dutious guards their former posts,
and the forces that be, as the realms host's.
Related Poems