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Showing posts with label Wuhan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wuhan. Show all posts

Sunday, August 02, 2020

THE AMERICAN GOSPEL (2020 EDITION)

by Avalon Felice Lee





In the beginning…
January judgment 
Red hat, white lies
"The flu is worse!" he scorns
as his gavel cudgels China, the blue-faced, the blue-lunged
The pen of law
holds the ink for healthcare blueprints. 
The dough in his fist
for swab tests; for the people. 
              
February denial
Nailed wrists, or tied hands?
Our savior, or an excuse?
Americans,
             repent!
                          Beware of
                                       fake news
                                                    sham gold
                                                                 idols— 
Nothing to worry about! Nothing at all!
Come to the altar, worship whoever’s crowned
The winged choir guard the American garden
from Wuhan fiends
And so, nib unscathed
Pockets heavy

The Gospel
Good thing he cares for his shares 
The yeast for His bread
unrisen, decayed
So, He Marches forward
And trumpets that “the numbers are good” as is
apparently
contrarily

But April showers make faith dour.
Just in case, behind Jericho bricks
He breaks bread
for swab tests; for His people
crumbs

Oh, you sinner
Cast doubt from your mind!
May you rejoice!
The Savior saves His people!
Good thing he cares for his shares.

Revelation
Though idols dine in violet silk, one day
the synthetic dye will blanch
Dress in your Sunday best, filter masks
Earth will soon steal the recipe for
manna
Sacrifice pedestrian beer
for communion wine, Purell
June bugs, heathens, see the sunup
The world ends not with a virus!
(But by the folly of man.)


Avalon Felice Lee is an Asian-American Californian. She has been writing poetry and prose since the age of eleven. Her works have been published in The Heritage Review, Kalopsia Literary Journal, and elsewhere.

Monday, April 06, 2020

DALIAN PLAY

by Don Kingfisher Campbell


Photos by Aihua Gao on a square in Dalian, China


A week after lockdown is lifted
People gather in the square
To kick a soccer ball around
Ride bicycles with training wheels
Or just walk together again

This afternoon a blonde doll
In a blue satin dress and
A pink eared white bunny
On all fours sit on a wooden
Park bench ready to eat

The little girl with a pink hat
And blue surgical mask serves
Them slices of plastic pizza
Using a blue plastic shovel
To dish the yellow wedges

The doll falls ill at dinner
The girl places a packet of
Soft cotton cleansing wipes
As a pillow on the red scooter
Rolling as an ambulance

The girl in the pink hat gives
The doll mouth to mouth
While wearing the mask
The bunny at the bench
Doesn’t want to eat anymore

Twitches its nose at the small
Boy sporting a black woolen
Ball cap and smaller blue mask
He tries to get the stuffed bunny
To chew on some faux bread

Meanwhile the doll rests
Eyes closed, her blue shoes
Tethered by a red ribbon
To her wrist dangle under
This nearby hospital bench

The boy comes to visit
Offers dolly a few pine nuts
As medicine for the virus
In what they have named
Wuhan Children’s Hospital


Don Kingfisher Campbell, MFA from Antioch University L.A., has taught at Occidental College Upward Bound for 35 years, been poetry editor of the Angel City Review, publisher of Spectrum magazine, and host of the Saturday Afternoon Poetry reading and workshop series in Pasadena, California.