ui Palace on the Night of Shou Sui [1] It was a sultry afternoon in Shenzhen, too early to eat and too late to sleep – about that time one doesn’t know what to do with oneself. Li Shangyin and I were at a teahouse in the Zhuzilin area, otherwise known as Bamboo Forest.…… Continue reading Sui Palace on the Night of Shou Sui
When I was younger, I regularly visited my father’s homestead in Kenya’s western Nyanza province. Green and wet hills wrapped voluptuously around the clusters of single-roomed thatched huts. The land was rich with oaks, figs, euphoria, sadry and blue gum trees. The baobab, known across Africa for its medicinal and life healing properties, called mirembe,…… Continue reading The Old Fieldhand
Shangyin was deep in thought, his ice cold Frappuccino was melting drops of water over his fingers. The mall plaza outside the Starbucks in Shenzhen was light and airy. Gray marble tiles gleamed for hundreds of yards under the noonday sun. In the near distance, I could see a street sweeper and a mall worker…… Continue reading Thirty Four Rhymes Presented To The “Five Classics” Scholar Liu
An Opinion Piece By Mark Obama Ndesandjo: As I write and seek to express myself well, much of I want to say remains in a locked room in the back of my mind. These thoughts have clear outlines, but as I explore them they become muggy and confusing. It is as though I do not…… Continue reading Limerick
In the beginning[1], there was no heaven and earth. Instead, a vast silence stretched into the darkness. Out of the great distances, the Creator Pangu was borne on the wings of a beam of light. Had she held a mirror up to her face she would have seen more emptiness, for she was travelling slightly…… Continue reading Roaming
A farmer noticed mist forming over a hill in the distance. Curious, he walked towards it, being careful to avoid the poison ivy and the sharp brambles by the grassy path. A long, sinuous vine had curved out of the ground and wrapped itself around a trunk of a huge tree. Yet this tree had…… Continue reading The Towers of Anding City
In all the world, there is no sky more beautiful than the African sky. During the day, it is a vast concave bowl flecked with gold and snow, so vast and encompassing one may be forgiven for having a feeling of vertigo. It is even more marvellous at night because all the most interesting things…… Continue reading Uplifting Thoughts on a Spring Night
Willow was of a merchant family of Luo Yang City. Her father was rich and successful in business but drowned in a storm’s tossing waves. Her mother did not care so much for her sons but doted on Willow. At 17, she started to apply makeup and wear her hair in a bun, without much…… Continue reading 5 Poems for Willow
“When I wrote the Berceuse”, Chopin told me, “ I was dreaming of many things. I had just read a book from the East called the Gita. It is a religious tract that talks about life being an illusion, and how shadows are real, and how we are the reflections of what lies in the…… Continue reading A Poem On The Huizhong Peony Battered By The Rain
When Li Shangyin visited J.S. Bach in Leipzig in 1736, he was surprised at the size of the great composer’s family. Children were everywhere, under the stairs, by the gate, even lying on the harpsichord. Although the school building was cramped, the view over the moat was pleasant. A faint mist covered the idyllic countryside,…… Continue reading My Cherished Son
The Qingming holiday, otherwise known as the Tomb Sweeping or Pure Brightness holiday, has just ended in China. It is a time to commemorate one’s ancestors and typically falls in early April. After the festival, the temperature often rises, along with rainfall and much ploughing and sowing. It is a time of sadness as well…… Continue reading Willow
Fu[1] To The Moon That Illuminates The Frozen Pond 赋得月照冰池 “Often,” Beethoven leaned back in the armchair of the hotel café, “the urge to write is a drug. My passion justifies me… Even though I often tear up what I have written. ” Shangyin and Beethoven were at the Shangri La Hotel in downtown Shenzhen.…… Continue reading Frozen Pond
A Tang Poet From Nairobi 