Translated from the Chinese by Denis Mair

Summoning

Not only in New York
Has it caused many to fall and never rise
In news reports, like roiling clouds of battle smoke,
From this waking nightmare loosed upon the world
You catch sight of things that look like handles
Yet latches on crucial gates haven’t been turned
Still less have they opened the way to reflection
On the human trait of concealing shameful things

Someone asked me on WeChat
In New York do you still ride subways?

Let me tell you, for weeks now
I’ve been sitting in a chair, going out and about
Wherever my thinking leads me
Now weary of riding my smart phone
On excursions through the virtual world

The subway pass in my wallet
Has been itching to be activated
With a swiping motion of my hand
The problem is
When will an end ever come
To these days of swiping the card of life
Without a way to get moving?

One thing worth celebrating is my awakened memory,
From the dawn of civilization, of a shaman on a peak
Who is summoning, by Heaven and Earth,
The full devotion of his mind and body

—

Cry Out

Cry out to heaven and earth
Cry out to father and mother
Cry out to sons and daughters
To brothers and sisters, younger and older
Cry out for rescue…
Cry out for accountability to truth
Cry out for conscience
Cry out more than ever
For healthy institutions

Through separation of mask and
isolation suit—cry out
Through separation of borders and races
and don’t forget religions—cry out
Cry out to awaken many things

But some things about ourselves
have not been wakened by our cries
And so
Try to keep this call
from falling asleep again

—