plane leaves turn, begin 
to fall—a migrant sweeps 
with a sorghum broom

others plant Golden Week 
flowers—purple yellow 
red flags in the breeze

over smooth stone paving 
a calligrapher paints, dips 
his long brush

with water

zuo zuo zuo yihuir— 
sit sit sit awhile

a white butterfly, a black butterfly

erhu, wooden flute 
in the pavilion a man, a woman

sing Heaven’s Road

camphor trees now bereft 
of cicadas—I hear

fathers plant a tree 
at the birth of each daughter

watch them grow, fashion 
a camphorwood chest

I have no daughter

along the wide path—mothers 
fathers grandmothers chatter

over advertisements 
for marriage clipped 
to open umbrellas

male born 1989 Shanghai residency 
something I cannot read

¥4,000/month 
moral character something I have 
to look up in the dictionary

female born 1983 
US post-graduate studies? 
own apartment something

seeking moral character 
something something

a man appears, speaks 
in dialect something something

but I am only reading—please 
I am trying so hard to read

something something something he says 
moral character something

Does he think I am here for my son?

Ni duo da? he asks—How old are you? 
You laogong ma?—Have you a husband?

(Oh)

You, I say—I have

Sorry sorry sorry his first words in English

someone is taking a photograph 
someone is having a photograph taken

the calligrapher is still 
painting

something evaporates

like morning