“for bing ai” by Rita Wong

whose orange tree
whose window
whose bedroom
whose hearth

submerged beneath

dam
three gorges
dammed
yangtze
cursed, hearsed
unless the baiji return

whose shack by the side of the road
resists baseline drift

who travels an hour by bus
to reach the empty bank

who knows the why in wise

who speaks earth
through water

 

 

– year of the rat as in art

http://www.sinoreel.com/blog/fengyan/3
http://www.wsws.org/articles/207/oct207/pt1-027.shtml
http://www.baiji.org/start.html

Works Cited

  • Wong, Rita. for bing ai. Canadian Literature 196 (2008): 63. Print. (Link)