Category Archives: Poetry

The Mao Case by Qiu Xiaolong

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A writer friend of mine, Joan Drury (she owns Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais, MN) recommended this book to me during a recent trip. She said Qiu is one of her new favorite authors. It was a great recommendation!

The book is actually sixth in a detective series set in Shanghai, China with the main character, Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police Bureau. The book’s author, Xiaolong, is a translator and poet who lives in the states now. This book includes many quotations of classic Chinese poetry, as well as some of his own.

I spent a lot of time in Shanghai during a previous job working with engineers and field associates developing, designing, constructing and starting up a manufacturing facility. The realism of Xiaolong’s scenes, his characters and their speech patterns appealed to me greatly. He created a tremendous mystery that would only work, in my evaluation, in the Chinese society. It was based on their history, honor and belief system.

Inspector Chen is a warm, human character that does his job well and I am looking forward to going back to read his previous adventures. I’ll also be checking out some of Qiu Xiaolong’s other writing from his website.

 

Beautiful Pleasure

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Once there was a much loved Mother that gave birth to a son.

He was beautiful and round and brown and soft and she loved him so.
He cried and he suckled and he smiled and he suckled some more.
As he suckled she thought to herself “I shall call him Beautiful Pleasure, because he brings me pleasure and he is beautiful.”

The son grew, happy in the shadow of his mother, constantly aware of his surroundings and gentle in his heart.
His life was like a train ride with some track smooth, some bumpy and some so rough that the cars seemed as they would be bounced apart.

As happens sometimes in life, the rough parts overtook the smooth and the gentle soul was snatched out of the son’s body, leaving only a husk, with no promises of return.
The husk was not allowed to die, nor was it allowed to live…exactly.

Through it all, the much loved Mother never quit her Beautiful Pleasure and the husk never lost all the oils that had once made it smooth and soft.

When the land helped smooth the rails again, as nature has a habit of doing, the gentle soul slowly resurfaced.
Renewed, and still gentle, but with a stronger covering, the boy sprouted and grew and survived and overcame and succeeded.
Now he was again beautiful and round and brown and soft.

But now he also had a fire light shining within him.
Sometimes it burned blue and soft, while other times it burned red and hot.
It wasn’t always controllable, but it was always true.

The much loved Mother, who thought of her Beautiful Pleasure often, but saw him not, was able to feel the fire light.
Most often it warmed her, but indeed, even she was scorched at times.

When she felt the scorch, she said, “My beautiful, round, brown and soft acquired a rocket that will not be tied down.”

And together they smiled, in their hearts, knowing and loving each other well.

Copyright 2012

Each Other’s

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I originally wrote the following very short poem (at the bottom of this post) in 1986. It was written with a particular person in mind, but was supposed to be about relationship, and specifically, being in relationship with another person.

I didn’t write it with a defined sex for each of the individuals, not thinking that sex was the focus or the issue.

I have since known many strong couples…male / female, male / male, female / female. Some are old, some are young, some are the same age, some are not, some are in the same house, some are not, some haven’t even figured out whether they feel better being call “gurl” or “boi”.

When I see two people love and support each other to an extent that you can see it in their face, it makes me happy for them, no matter what they look like.

Why can’t it be like that for all of us? Twenty six years later, we are still talking about the issues…at least they are being talked about at a much higher level.

Cold mornings waking next to you,

Quiet evenings in each other’s arms,

Family times and holidays,

Party times and greetings,

Both with our individuality and character,

Yet with the added strength of a couple.

Through all of this we are proud to be

Each other’s.

My Friends…

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I have many old books for friends. They are soft, and worn, and smell of leather and the oils from my hands. When I slip into them, I become anyone, can go anyplace and they lift me up and hold me.

In turn, I take care of their covers and pages, keeping them at rest and out of harm’s way.
If I turn their pages caressingly, or if I feel like dashing through a chapter, they never fall behind, but they laugh and play with me along the way. When I curl up in my alone place and read them slowly, with understanding, they wrap me in a river of imagination and make my feelings burn.

Most importantly, I know that if I am frightened, or harmed by something they hold, I can be calmed and soothed by the next page; or if I rip a page, in my haste to get on with the story, I can take whatever time is needed to repair it, so that it is only a reminder of my enjoyment.

Once they have been read, my mind does not simply put these books back on their shelves. They stay with me forever, welcome or not, and continue to influence my perspective.

In an effort to lighten things up a bit…

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For those of you that don’t know what Grindr is, you may want to simply ignore this post. It’s supposed to poke a little good natured fun at those that use the site. :)

Grindr #fail

If you go looking on Grindr, for candle-lit dinners and romance

I’ll bet you will not finder, since most the guys have no pants

You put your picture out there, saying you’re not hot to trot

Then you hand out stricture, like you’re some ol’ cocky bot

Quit being such an uptight stiff, and send us all a little gif

Then when we see you waggle your tail, we can send you a big fat Grindr #FAIL

.

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To all the boys on Grindr looking for something different than what they find ;)