SHANGHAI ROSE

Enigmatic porcelain face; the mona lisa lipcurl; defiant, inscrutable shading the exquisite laughing eyes; the puzzled look; she took all of me in at Pudong Airport and I am doomed.
Wtoured her childhood romps in the yugagian gardens and walked along the Bund that she hopscotched 40 years ago; and we drove into the countryside to where she lived with her aunt as a leggy seven year old. And she brightened up as we walked her memory lane and I was equally glad to share this with her for this was a landscape I had never seen.

Saturday in hot Sakon Nakhon

Coming down from the China High: Remembrance of skyscraper cranes; steel mesh, a thousand builders shouting, smacking, smoking, spitting. Everywhere the busy tempo. Primal Changsha cold and raining; Glittering shiny Shanghai soaked in tourists with a very fine subway; Golden Oasis Hotel on a small street; cream sheets and yellow walls and the smell of dumplings; Windy Shenyang on a northern plateau; drum bands, mountain taoists, KTV; Shenzhen: dangerous neighbor of Hong Kong; glistey; pimps, touts, Lychee park.
Crowds, noise, confusion, hope, vitality: China style
Small, quiet, orderly, indifference, relaxed: Thailand style.

so here is what I do to break up the pencil line. Grab a ball of wool and unravel, then entangle and remember this as a picture of my living life and then celebrate the wonder of the wondrous confusion.

lineal life

you want life to be a pencil line; neat and straight; I do! but its a form of suicide.
 And frankly, very boring.