Ancient Tune

I
One youth slides off towards the abyss

And is followed by another . . .
Happiness will soon be obsolete

A boy writes down a line of poetry
One line, alas, just one single line :

“Above the Bridge of Twenty Four the moon dispels the night”
II
Winter, South of the River

You cannot focus your thoughts or find a theme

Yaorou pork leg, the Ge Garden, Shanghai folk
The tour guide is hot with enthusiasm


Photo, please. A photo
His frozen red face smiles.



Born in Sichuan province in 1956, Bai Hua seems to have decided from an early age to pursue a writing life. After completing an English degree at the Guangzhou Foreign Languages Institute, he went on to study an MA in Western Literary Trends at Sichuan University.
He comes across as a highly serious writer, steeped in the classical Chinese tradition, but keen to apply its lessons to the contemporary world. The short poem ‘Reality’ seems to express his view of writing poetry as a painstaking harvesting of the real.