Lunar Summer

Collage Poem example

Lunar Summer

 

We'd spend whole summer days underwater,

our skin turning red in the sun

our fingers becoming prunes

our eyes filled with moments almost ours

almost periods

almost bras

almost kissing boys

almost women

 

Legend says the half-dragon, half-lion monster "Nian" comes out of hiding and attacks people (especially children) during the Lunar NewYear.

 

Living, you stand under a waterfall.

You leave the sleeping shore deliberately;

you shed your dusty clothes, pick your barefoot way over the high, slippery rocks,

hold your breath, choose your footing, and step into the waterfall.

The hard water pelts your skull, bangs in bits on your shoulders and arms.

The strong water dashes down beside you and you feel it along your calves and thighs

rising roughly backup, up to the roiling surface, full of bubbles

that slide up your skin or break on you at full speed.

Can you breathe here?

 

Forced to rest

we'd lay our towels head to head

our long, tanned bodies stretched

unaware of our own beauty

as we sized up everyone else's

hoping that we too might be just as beautiful one day

 

 

Lunar New Year can be rough for singles, especially females. Many family reunions are highlighted by dreaded interrogations of singles who haven't settled down. Now there's a solution--boyfriend rentals. China's largest online retailer, Taobao, has a section for fake boyfriend rentals, so parents and relatives can finally stop nagging. The package comes with "a free embrace, hand holding and a goodbye kiss on the cheek," as well as a list of additional specific service charges.

 

The mockingbird took a single step into the air and dropped.

Her wings were still folded against her sides as though she were singing from a limb and not falling, accelerating thirty-two feet per second, through empty air.

Just a breath before she would have been dashed to the ground,

she unfurled her wings with exact, deliberate care,

spread her elegant, white-banded tail,

and so floated onto the grass.