In China—poem

"In China" appeared in the print journal The Dunes Review back in 2004.

In China

you can climb the ancient stone steps

through the forest and up the mountain

to the Buddhist temple on top

or you can drive your car up the road

and go to the kareoke bar next door to the temple

and drink Tsing-Tao beer and watch bootleg Hollywood movies

                                                                        on big-screen tv

at sunset you can lean on the stone wall

and contemplate the light, how the surroundings change

                                    from green to orange to pink

or you can throw empty beer bottles off into ravines

to see how far they will go, and how they will smash

you can enter the temple, hear the chanting of the monks

smell the smoke from incense sticks lit for ancestors

and become angry at the sound of the jukebox and pinball machine

plot how you could set fire to the bar without killing anyone

and the head monk will look up from the front of the room

he will smile at you and shake his head

and you can shake your head in frustration, and leave

down the ancient stone steps

to spend the night in the forest with the howling monkeys