Snowfall in Peking--1978
by
Wayne Thomas
(Age: 58)
copyright 05-09-2008
Age Rating: 10 to 127
This is one of my older poems, but I got to reading it and I think it's pretty good. But I'll let you decide. I see I've used one phrase in another poem. Ah, well.
Hotel window,
Fourteen stories off the ground,
The highest point in the city.
Snow dances,
Darting and swooping
To a songless tune,
And there are no crowds today
On the white streets of Peking.
In fancy, I soar out and away,
And wonder,
Where are they now,
What are they doing,
Those uniformed school children
Who come running and yelling
Every afternoon when they've been unleashed?
And the almond-eyed couples,
slowly strolling past
The red silk portraits of Mao and Hua
That hang above
The ancient gate of the people,
Tien an Mien?
But I do not see them today,
Only trees with leaves all gone,
And wisps of smoke from charcoal fires,
And below me, across the way
On a wall poster,
Snowflakes settle on Lenin's moustache.
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This is another fine impressionist word painting of an exotic (to us in the west, anyway) locale. As with your beautiful "Portrait of old Japan," this work puts the reader right in the middle of the scene -- you can smell the charcoal smoke, and feel the snowflakes land on your nose. Terrific. In fact, you've given me the idea to do a travel book made up of poems just like these! Thanks again. Here's a high 5!
This was turning into a very serious, artistic, and philosophical portrait with rhythm, imagery, texture, and movement. Until the vision of snowflakes settling on Lenin's mustache, made me burst out laughing at the ignominious ends which some of the most feared dictators and tyrants have met. What's his face crawling out of a rat hole in the ground, another finding his evil magicks turned against him, still another to finally realize that his arrogance didn't place him on the side of God, etc.
Thank you for restoring some balance in my life.
Picture it: That grim, sour, stern face with the famous heavy mustache, only serving to collect snowflakes. ROFLMAO! Pardon me while I lose all sense of decorum, and even dignity, while I find ironic twists in the most sublime images. LOL
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